Carry On My Wayward Son
by Delorean7
Summary: Based on the song by 'Kansas'. When a zombie virus threatens to wipe out mankind, one teenager tries to get his friends to safety. But how long can they survive with The Dead on their tail? Chapter 12 is up. Sorry about the wait.
1. Dean

**A/N: HELLO ONE AND ALL! I'm finally starting another story; this one is about zombies (obviously). If anyone reading has read my stories before, then welcome back. I hoped you liked my last one. But that's enough out of me, enjoy.**

Tick, Tick, Tick

Dean could swear that clock was mocking him. It was unbelievable, it was the last day before his summer vacation and he got detention. It wasn't his fault that Mr Park got in the way of his paper aeroplane. Even though Dean was fifteen years old, he still acted like a preschooler.

"ELKINS, HEAD ON DESK!" Mr Park yelled from the front of the classroom, the bandage on his left eye was the result of Dean's aeroplane making contact with his teachers face. Dean let out a sigh and placed his head back on the table. Hours seemed to go by before the school bell rang, indicating Dean's freedom.

"Well, if I was allowed to keep you longer Mr Elkins, I would. But, seeing as it is the last day of school, I'll cut you a break. I'm also letting you go early because I'm late for a Teachers Convention in New York and I don't want to get caught in traffic. Now go on, enjoy your summer" Mr Park said before putting on a fake smile.

"Whatever you say Mr P." Dean replied before walking out of the classroom. Without students yelling, shouting and/or hitting each other, the hallway looked like a ghost town. He was used to seeing the school after hours though. After all, this wasn't his first detention. He walked out of the main entrance and down the stone steps. He was heading for the bike rack until he heard a voice from behind him.

"Another detention Loser?" Dean groaned and turned around. He came face to face with Nate Hurley, the "toughest" kid in school even though nobody has ever seen him hit anyone. He wore dark denim jeans, a black leather jacket with a white undershirt, black trainers and had closely cut hair with the word 'Death' shaved into the left side. It was his height that petrified most students. However, Dean was roughly about the same size as him. Dean would've easily kicked his ass, but it was harder to do since Nate had brought his thugs with him.

"What are you doing out Hurley? Did your mom send you to get more 'Slim-fast'?" Dean asked. He could feel a smirk coming. Hurley's thugs started laughing their heads off at Dean's insult. But they soon stopped after Nate gave them a death glare.

"You've got a funny mouth Elkins. To bad I've got to rip it off" he said before lunging at Dean and pinning him to the wall. He raised his fist. And took a big swing.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE NATE!"

Dean opened his eyes; Hurley's fist was inches from his face. Dean looked the direction the shout had come from. Standing a few metres away was Dean's friend Erica. She wore a red tank top, blue denim shorts and white trainers. Her long, red hair waved behind her as she ran towards the scene. She grabbed Hurley by the collar of his jacket and shoved him to the ground. But before he could get up, she stomped on his junk and he rolled on the floor in pain. He slowly got up before giving her and Dean another death glare.

"You got lucky that time Elkins. You won't always have your girlfriend there to help you!" he yelled before running away, his thugs followed suite.

"_GIRLFRIEND?_" It hit his mind like a hand grenade. There was no way Erica could be his girlfriend. He knew she was his best friend, but that was it. Nothing mo…

"Hey, I just saved your skin. You owe me a thank you" snapped him out of his trance as he heard her voice. He turned to her and his heart skipped a beat. Her red hair seemed to glow in the sunlight. It was like he was seeing her for the first time. It took him a few seconds, but he finally answered.

"Yeah, sure. Um…thanks" he replied. He started to head towards the bike rack, Erica followed suite.

"So, what are you planning on doing for the summer?" she asked him.

"Well, my mum and dad are in D.C this weekend for a conference. I'm gonna be on my own the whole night. What about you?" he replied.

"Nothing much. I have to baby-sit my little brother for the night. My mom and dad are going out for their anniversary dinner," she said. For some reason, he couldn't take his eyes off her. He reached the bike rack, unlocked his bike and got onto he seat.

"Maybe we could get together sometime?" she said just as he was about to ride off.

"Sure, see ya Erica" he said.

"Later Dean" she replied before he started riding home. Erica waved goodbye, turned on her heel and walked the other direction.

"_If only I could tell him how I…oh, what's the point? He'll never feel for me the way I feel for him_," she thought before letting a single tear drop onto the sidewalk.

**-Later that night-**

"_Unbelievable. I leave as early as possible and I'm late._" Mr Park thought to himself as his red Chevrolet sped along the busy highway. He looked at the clock on his dashboard. The convention started at 9:00pm and it was already 9:15pm. He let out a groan before turning back to the road. He let out a scream and stopped as the figure he had just hit rolled off of his bonnet and back onto the concrete. A traffic jam started to form behind him as angry car passengers started hurling insults. He jumped out of the car and dashed to the figure's side. It looked like the body of a teenager. He must have run onto the motorway as Mr Park was driving by. Mr Park turned the body over and looked at the teenager's face.

"Are you okay kid? I'm sorry, I didn't se…OH MY GOD!" he yelled as he saw the teenagers face. It was a boy, his skin had turned a sickly pale green colour, his face covered in scratches and pus-filled boils. He looked like he had the black plague.

"I-I must call somebody," Mr Park said as he reached for his phone. But before he could type in 911, the teenage boy's eyes shot open and he sunk his teeth into Mr Park's neck.

**A.N: Well, that's the first chapter for my next story. I hope you all enjoyed it so far. If anyone hasn't read my first story, check it out on my profile. Read, review, man your computers and May the force be with you.**


	2. The Next Day

**A/N: HOWDY Y'ALL! I'm back again. If any of you have just started reading my story, WELCOME! I'm going to leave a link on my profile to the song this story is based on. **

**Now I think its come to the time where I realise I've said too much, enjoy.**

**-The next day - 8:00AM-**

Silence filled Dean's house as the 15 year old snored like a car engine. His room was painted light grey with a single red stripe going across the top half of his wall. On the wall he had a HD TV with an Xbox 360 plugged in. Next to his bed, his digital alarm clock sat motionless. But a few seconds later, Dean awoke to the sound of 'Linkin Park' blaring next to him. He reached across and hit the snooze button. He groaned, rubbed his eyes and got out of bed. As he walked towards the bathroom, he quickly stopped to look at his reflection. His long brown hair was a mess and he looked like he hadn't slept in a week. After a quick shower, he changed into a red and white V-neck with dark blue skinny jeans and black and white trainers. Dean slid down the banister and into the kitchen; he turned on the radio, but was surprised to hear nothing but static. He tried a different radio station, again there was static.

"Hmm, must be a bad signal" Dean said to himself with a puzzled look on his face. He took out a carton of orange juice, poured himself a glass and chugged it down before wiping his mouth and putting his glass in the sink. He strolled into the front room and turned on the TV. Just like the radio, the TV screen was static. He tried another channel…static.

"What the fuck is going on?" he said to himself once again. He dashed to his computer and tried to log on to the Internet, it wasn't working. He turned on his phone, there was no signal.

"Okay. Something weird is going on. Maybe the neighbours are having the same problems." He thought before dashing out of he front door. He stopped suddenly at what he saw.

"Oh my god" he said with a look of terror on his face.

The street was destroyed, everywhere he looked, cars were crashed and abandoned, garbage cans had been tipped, but what frightened him the most was what he saw in the street. Lying on the ground in a puddle of blood was the body of his next-door neighbour, Mrs. Thomas. He dashed over to her and held her in his arms. She was still alive, but he could tell that she wouldn't be for long.

"Mrs Thomas? Who did this to you?" he asked, he could see a huge chunk had been torn out of her neck. She struggled to breath, but was still able to talk.

(Cough)"Death"(Cough, Cough)"you're going to die" was all she was able to say before her eyes fluttered shut, never to open again. Dean laid her body back on the sidewalk before dashing back to his house and slamming the door shut. Once it was locked, he just sat down on the floor, pulled his knees to his chest and just cried. He couldn't believe what he had just witnessed.

"_How could this happen? Who did this? Was it just here? Had this happened to other cities? Were his mom and dad still alive?"_ All these heartbreaking questions just caused him to cry even harder, even though he was 15, Dean never though he would witness something as traumatising as that. But he finally stopped crying when an all-important question popped into his head.

"_Was Erica okay?" _He jumped up off the floor and back outside. He opened the garage door, jumped on his bike and started pedalling like there was no tomorrow. He tried his best to avoid making eye contact with Mrs. Thomas' body. As Dean made his way through town, there was destruction everywhere, mauled dead bodies lay everywhere, houses and shops had been deserted and as he made his way past the school he had to stop to look at he scene. The school was on fire. The bright flames seemed to leap out of the windows as the charred, burnt walls started to crumble. He ignored it and kept on pedalling. After what seemed like hours, Dean finally reached Erica's house. The front door was wide open; he left his bike in the road and ran inside.

"ERICA? WHERE ARE YOU?" he yelled, his voice echoing of the walls. A few seconds later, he heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. Followed by the sound of whimpering. Suddenly, Erica burst into the room and flung her arms around him. She began to cry into his chest, he hugged back thinking it would make her better. She finally let go and looked up at him. Her face was streaked with tears and she had bags under her eyes. She wore the same clothes as she had worn yesterday. He wiped a few tears away from her cheeks before talking.

"Erica, what happened?" he asked. But she was a wreck. Her answer just came out as sobs. He looked her in the eyes before talking again.

"Erica, I need to know what happened" he said. It took her a couple of seconds, but she finally answered.

"I-I-I woke up and I heard something coming from m-my little brother's room. I w-went inside a-and…THEY WERE EATING HIM!" she yelled before burying her face in his chest for a second time.

"Who were?" he asked. But before she could reply, he heard the sound of wood splintering from upstairs. Erica screamed.

"THEY ESCAPED! I locked them in my brother's room. They must have got out," she explained as the sound of footsteps filled the air.

"Who…what the fuck are they?" was all he could say as he noticed the two figures that had just entered the room. One was a man in his thirties and the other one was a teenage boy, the man was over weight with a bald head, a greasy white t-shirt, torn jeans and no shoes. The other one had long black hair, a black t-shirt with a skeleton on the front, scruffy black jeans and blood covered trainers. Their faces looked like stuff of nightmares, their skin had turned a sickly pale green colour and was covered in scratches and boils. Dean and Erica started shifting slowly towards the kitchen. Dean started to whisper in Erica's ear.

"Listen, when I say so, make a break for the kitchen," he said. Erica nodded. The two men were starting to realise that their prey was trying to escape and started walking towards them.

"NOW!" Dean yelled before he and Erica dived through the kitchen door and closed it. As soon, as the shutter sealed, the sound of banging and scratching could be heard on the other side.

"They're trying to get in. What do we do?" Erica asked, from the sound of her voice, Dean could tell she was terrified. He scanned the kitchen for something he could use as a weapon. But he needed something better than a meat cleaver. He turned to Erica.

"Quickly, we can get out the back door" he said. The two of them ran outside just as they heard the kitchen door collapse. Dean tried to close the door, but the combined force of the man and the teenager was too much and the door swung open. Dean was thrown back onto the grass; the man stumbled towards him just as Dean got off the ground. Dean started to back away, he could tell by the look in that man's eyes that he was pissed off. And there was no way he was going to die a zombie's lunch. Suddenly, Dean tripped on something and fell back down onto the grass. The man had him trapped.

"_Man, this is not my day_" Dean thought to himself, he looked down at what he had tripped on. Lying in the grass was a brand new pitchfork; Erica's parents must have got it before all this happened. An idea sprang into Dean's mind just as the zombie lunged at him. Dean quickly grabbed the pitchfork and raised it into the air just before the man landed on him. The pitchfork went straight through the man's head and his body went motionless, hovering over Dean like a human tipi. Dean lowered the pitchfork and examined his kill. The pitchfork had small chunks of brain on each of the spikes; at the end of one of them was an eyeball. Dean pulled his "weapon" out of the man's head and scanned the yard for Erica. He saw her sitting at the foot of a tree; she had pulled her legs to her chest and was weeping uncontrollably. He ran to her side and saw the dead body of the teenage with chunks of glass lodged in his skull.

"What happened to him?" he asked. She looked up at him before answering.

"H-he ran at m-me. I m-moved and he ran into the window," she answered before pointing at the smashed shed window. She hugged Dean and buried her face into his chest yet again. Even though she was drenching his shirt, he hugged her back. He tried to console her.

"Shh, don't worry. I'll keep you safe. I promise," he said before Erica lifted her head off of his chest. She looked into his eyes, Dean looked into hers. Their faces slowly started to move towards one another, their lips inches apart. Until finally…

"HOOOONNNK!" The sound of the car horn rang in their ears. Their faces parted as they searched for where the noise was coming from.

"I think it came from the street," Erica said. They got up off the grass, ran through the destroyed house and made their way to street. Sitting in the road was one of their school buses, attached to the front was a makeshift snowplough and the words "BRING IT ON ZOMBIES" had been written on the side in black paint. The doors opened and what looked like an army of teenagers marched out. Each was holding a weapon; some held blunt objects and others held guns. But leading the group was the last person Dean expected to lead an army, Nate Hurley. He strolled over to the two friends and came face to face with Dean.

"Need a ride, losers?" he said smugly.

A/N: Oooooh, cliffhanger. My first cliffhanger to be exact. Now if any of you want to hear the song this story is based on, follow the link in my profile. I didn't make the video though; give credit to the guy who made it. Well, read, review, man your computers and May the force be with you. 


	3. The Attack

**A/N: Hello Loyal Readers. By the power invested in me by The Ambassador of The Worm People, I allow you to read this next chapter. Just to let you know, I've had an ear infection over the past few weeks (gross right?) and it's FINALLY cleared up. PRAISE DA LORD! Well, that's enough blabber out of me. Enjoy.**

Dean and Erica's mouths both hung open as they took in what had just happened. Nate Hurley, the "toughest" kid in school, the one kid who got more detentions than every kid in school put together was leading an army. He was still standing in front of them, tapping his foot impatiently. After a few minutes, he finally broke the silence.

"Hello, I asked if you wanted a ride?" he said. Dean and Erica finally snapped out of their trances.

"Umm…sure. Is that thing safe?" Dean asked, a hint of confusion in his voice. Although the bus was heavily guarded, it looked like it could fall apart any second.

"You bet it is. Now come on, who knows how many Dead are out here?" Nate replied. They all got back on the bus, the army followed close behind in case anything went after them. As soon as everyone was on board, Nate got behind the steering wheel and fired up the engine. It took a few seconds, but the bus finally started to move. Dean observed the bus's interior; it looked like a refugee camp. The bus was full of children; most of them looked about Dean's age. Others were younger. All the kids with weapons sat at the front, Dean guessed they were Hurley's soldiers. Dean sat down on the seat behind Hurley; he had a lot of questions.

"So Hurley, how did all this happen?" Dean asked. Hurley kept his eyes on the road whilst answering.

"How am I supposed to know Dumbass? Do you think I'm a fortuneteller or something? Well here's a prediction for you. DON'T ASK STUPID QUESTIONS OR ELSE!" he responded. Dean's face turned from a look of terror to a look of seriousness.

"Or else what Nate?" Dean asked with a hint of dread in his voice. Dean waited for an answer, but was horrified at the outcome. Hurley reached under his seat and pulled out a Tactical Shotgun. He aimed it at Dean's head before responding.

"Or else you'll wish you were one of the zombies" he responded before placing it back under the seat and turning back to the road. Dean slumped in his seat, he knew Hurley was a douche, but he never expected him to do something that cold.

"Well if you can't tell me what happened, can you at least tell me how you formed this army?" he asked, hoping it wasn't another stupid question.

"Fine. I was out late last night with Kenny and Angelo, those guys who were with me outside the school when I was going to pound ya. Anyways, we were heading to the bar for a couple of rounds. But before we got there, this drunk started coming at us, except he looked a little different. So, Angelo tries to talk to him, but instead he…he…he got bit in the neck. So we tried to help him, but it was too late. That hobo was eating him faster than a little kid eating a happy meal. After that, we tried to get to safety but there was too many of them. We headed towards the school seeing as that was the safest place we could think of. But when we got inside, we were ambushed by a horde of the Dead. We locked them in the cafeteria, but Kenny knew they wouldn't be trapped for long. He showed me how to work the bus, but he said he needed to turn on the gas first. I waited outside the school for him to show up. But there was a huge explosion and the next thing I knew was the school was on fire. He must have lit a match and got caught in the explosion. Kenny gave his life to destroy those things, so I'm going to give something back. I went around in the bus collecting anyone who survived, I asked the stronger ones to become soldiers; I couldn't take those things on by myself. So, we rounded up all the weapons we could, you'd be surprised at how many guns people use during a zombie attack. And…well…the rest is self-explanatory." He finished. Dean could see that he'd gone through a lot.

"Well Kenny didn't die in vain. We'll help you." Dean said. He sounded more confident than ever.

"Thanks Nerd" Hurley replied. Dean rolled his eyes.

"Where are we going anyway?" he asked. Because ever since him and Eric had got on board, they had no idea where they were going.

"Not a clue. The school was the safest place I could think of. Now I have no idea where to go," Hurley replied. Dean sat up in his seat and pondered. Where else could they go? Suddenly, it hit him like a bolt of lightening.

"Dude, the mall!" Dean yelled. Hurley turned to face him, a look of confusion plastered on his face.

"Look nerd, I know everything's free now, but we have important things to do than shop" he replied.

"No you idiot. The mall has reinforced doors and plenty of supplies. We could use it as a safehouse until help comes. I mean, IF help comes" Dean said. Hurley thought for a second, the last part of Dean's speech put him off a bit. But finally, Hurley stopped the bus, stood up and got everybody's attention.

"HEY EVERYONE! We're going to the mall. According to the nerd, that's our new safehouse. Any objections?" he asked. The bus went silent.

"Okay, now hold on. It's going to be a bumpy ride." He said. But before he could start the engine, there was a metallic scratching at the back of the bus, followed by a loud moaning noise. Suddenly, the emergency exit at the back of the bus started to open slowly, the sound of the Dead groaning flooded in. The little kids started screaming as a blood covered hand reached through the small crack in the door.

"Nate, start the bus. HURRY!" Dean pleaded.

"I'm trying!" he replied, he sounded terrified. It took a few seconds, but the bus finally started moving again just as the door gave way. Through the hole where the door used to be, a group of the Dead started chasing after the vehicle. The same zombie that Erica thought was dead seemed to be leading them. The glass shards stuck in his forehead made his facial expression look even more terrifying. Dean looked towards Erica; she was trying to comfort the younger kids.

"Luke, take 'em down!" Hurley yelled towards one of the soldiers sitting at the front of the bus. He was wearing a trucker cap, a denim jacket, dark jeans and black boots. From Dean's angle, he looked like a real soldier. He turned towards the rest of the soldiers and started barking orders.

"Okay, make sure you stay away from the door. I don't want any mourning after this" he ordered before they started making their way to the back of the bus. As soon as they reached the back, they unleashed hell on the attackers. The bullets sent blood spurting over them as the zombies went down one by one. Sadly, one boy got too close to the door and as dragged out the back by Glass-face. Dean watched helplessly as the boy was dragged away by the monster. He dashed towards the front of the bus and took the Tactical Shotgun out from under Hurley's seat.

"I'll bring it back afterwards," he said dashing to the back of the bus and jumping out the back of the bus.

"DEAN NO!" Erica called, but it was to late. Dean got further and further away as the bus continued driving. The zombies went after him instantly, Dean loaded the gun and started gunning down each of the zombies as they lunged at him. Dean saw that the boy was still being dragged away by Glass-face and dashed towards the scene. As soon as Glass-face heard the sound of footsteps, he turned around, only to get his brains blown out the back of his head. Dean lowered the gun and ran to the kid's side. He was Negro and had a big-ass Afro on top of his head. He wore a green v-neck, denim jeans and dark sneakers. Dean offered him a hand up, he accepted.

"Thanks man. I owe you one," the kid said, a look of relief on his face.

"Don't mention it. What's your name anyway?" Dean asked.

"Alex. Alex Nightingale" he replied whilst shaking Dean's hand.

"So, how do we get back to the bus?" he asked once he let go of Dean's hand.

"Oh, I think they'll be back" Dean said, gesturing down the road. Alex followed his gaze and saw the bus heading towards them. As soon as it stopped, they climbed in the back exit. When Dean got in, a round of applause from the other kids greeted him, even Hurley was clapping. Luke walked up to him and gave him a pat on the back.

"That was pure bravery man. We could use you on the battle field." He said before walking back up front. But before Dean could move anywhere, Erica ran to him and gave him a slap across the face.

"Don't ever do that again," she said. Dean could swear he saw her eyes go completely black.

"Seems like a fair deal," he said, rubbing his sore cheek.

**A/N: Well, they've survived a zombie attack and found a new safehouse. It doesn't get better than this. Or does it? You'll have to wait and find out. Read, review, man your computers and May the force be with you. **


	4. The Museum

A/N: Yo, yo, yo! How's it going? I'm finally updating once again. If any of you think that Dean killing Glass-face would have made 'Zombie kill of the week', please say so in your reviews. I haven't had any in a while. Most of them are from my good friend CC333. Well, that's enough out of me. Enjoy.

"Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long…" Nate sung silently to himself as 'Rascal Flatts – Life is a highway' blared over his iPod ear buds. It was starting to get dark as the bus charged through the city streets. Ever since Glass-face's crew had torn off the back exit, Nate had no intention of slowing down in case a zombie tried to climb in. Erica was helping a girl named Rebecca look after the younger children; they'd been petrified since the attack. Dean had been positioned at the back of the bus with Alex and an older boy named Joel. Surprisingly, Hurley had allowed Dean to keep his gun on one condition: If Dean dies Nate gets his gun back. Dean looked over at Joel; he was wearing a jet-black tuxedo with a red necktie that he was using as a bandanna. In his hands he held a sniper rifle, he seemed to be focused on what was happening outside. Dean edged over to him slowly and sat in the seat next to him.

"So…what's with the tuxedo?" Dean asked. Joel turned towards him, a look of darkness on his face. After a few seconds, he turned back to the hole that used to be the back exit. Dean got up and walked back to where he was previously sitting.

"Where were you?" said Joel, his eyes still focused on the road, which was disappearing slowly as the bus carried on driving.

"Huh?" Dean asked.

"Where were you when all this happened?" Joel repeated, his voice louder than before.

"Um…well…I woke up to it I guess." Dean said, trying to put on a smirk.

"Pft, some people have all the luck" Joel replied. Dean then realised something. Why was he wearing a tuxedo?

"What happened?" Dean asked. From the tone of his voice, Joel could tell he was concerned.

"You see, about a month after I was born, my dad died in a car crash. So my mom had to make ends meet by going to work and looking after me at the same time. But that was before she met Nathan. She started dating him when I was 8; to me he was the coolest guy ever. He liked the same music as me; he took me to whatever movie I wanted to see, he taught me how to shoot a sniper," he said, gesturing towards the gun. "And when he proposed to my mom, I just knew he was going to be the best Dad ever" his face suddenly turned from a look of happiness to a look of sadness.

"Let me guess. Something happened?" Dean asked.

"No shit Sherlock. Sometime during the reception, this guy smashed through the window and started attacking the guests. Nathan was able to get us out of the building, but he said he had to go back for mom. He only my dad for 2 hours, but he was best dad I could've hoped for. So, we found the bus, Nate took us in…"

"Wait a minute. Us?" Dean interrupted.

"Yeah, Rebecca's my sister" he said. Dean turned to where Rebecca and Erica were sitting; he noticed that Rebecca was wearing a cream coloured bridesmaid dress.

"I'm so sorry" Dean apologised. If he'd known what Joel and Rebecca had gone through, he wouldn't have asked.

"Yeah, so ever since we got on board, I made a promise to keep Rebecca safe from those…those…_things_" he said, adding emphasis on things. Suddenly, there came a shout from behind Dean.

"ZOMBIES!" Alex yelled, his eyes fixed on something outside the bus. They followed his gaze to see a whole hoard of zombies heading towards them as the bus drove quickly along the road.

"Whoa. I've never seen them go that fast" Luke said from the front of the bus. Dean's face was frozen in horror as the zombies got closer and closer.

"Well, what are you waiting for? TAKE 'EM DOWN!" Dean heard somebody yell from the front of the bus. No sooner had he heard that order, him, Joel and Alex opened fire on their attackers. Alex's AK47 fired rapidly as his targets dropped to the ground. Dean glanced at Joel, it seemed that every shot he fired got a zombie in the head. He turned back, only to see a zombie staring him in the face. He pulled the trigger and a trail of blood and gore hit the street as the zombie's brains got mutilated. As soon as there were no zombies left, a huge sigh of relief erupted from the bus. Everything seemed to be going fine. That is, until Nate spoke.

"Erm…guys? I think we might need to choose another safehouse." He said. They all looked out the windscreen; through the glass doors of the mall they saw a whole mall full of zombies. Their disfigured faces pressed up against the glass as they tried to force their way out. Erica ran over to Dean and buried her face into the crook of his neck.

"Hey look." Luke said whilst looking out the window. Two blocks down the street; they saw the Natural History Museum. And from the looks of things, it looked untouched.

"_Well, at least zombies think museums are boring too_" Dean thought to himself.

"We could use that as a safehouse. It has one way in and one way out. It's perfect" Luke announced.

"I agree. All those in favour of the museum?" Alex said before raising his hand in the air. The other kids followed suite.

"Majority rules. Nate, take us to the museum" he said.

"I wish I could, but we've got a bit of a problem. We're out of gas" Nate replied, a hint of dread in his voice. Dean ran to the dashboard and checked the fuel supply. The needle was on E.

"It looks like we're walking" Dean sadly announced.

"But it's two blocks away. We'll never make it." Joel called from the back of the bus.

"Then I guess we'll have to run" Dean replied. He loaded his shotgun before turning to Luke.

"We'll need the soldiers to come out first. That way we can guard the younger ones" Dean explained. Luke nodded in response and told the same to the soldiers. As soon as everyone was out of the bus, the soldiers formed a semicircle around the other kids for protection. Dean took in his surroundings. Only yesterday, the city centre was as it should've been, full of last minute shoppers, angry drunks and people calling for taxis. And now it had been reduced to an empty street littered with dead bodies and crashed cars.

"We've got a few Dead behind us" Alex called from the back of the group; they turned to see 3 zombies heading towards them. But before they could even fire, all 3 of them dropped to the ground, blood pouring from the holes in their foreheads.

"GET INSIDE! HURRY!" came a voice from behind them. The turned back towards the museum, standing at the front entrance were 2 boys and a girl, all wearing WW2 soldier's uniforms and wielded bayonets. Dean and the others dashed towards the museum entrance, from the sounds of growling behind him, Dean could tell that the Dead had spotted them. The sounds of screams pierced the air as two of Luke's soldiers were taken down. As soon as they got inside, the WW2 girl slammed and bolted the door shut.

"Thanks for letting us in" Luke said between breaths. One of the boy soldiers looked up at him, he had spiked up hair and had a scar under his left eye.

"Anytime. We're friends now" he replied.

"How many did we lose?" Luke asked before turning to Alex, he was propped up against the door and using his AK47 as a walking stick.

"We lost Nicky and Josh" Alex replied, he groaned a bit as he tried to stand up without the gun.

"Are you okay man?" Dean asked.

"Not really. I think I might have twisted my ankle when I fell through the entrance" he replied, he was still struggling to stand without the gun's support. The girl walked over to him and examined his ankle. She had sapphire blue eyes and messy blonde hair.

"Yep, I think he might have twisted it. Jake, help me take him to the First-Aid room" she said to the other WW2 boy, his had straightened brown hair and had a combat pistol on his belt. He headed over to Alex and grabbed him by the shoulder whilst the blonde girl grabbed the other. They helped him to his feet and carried him through the main doors. Dean turned to the WW2 boy with spiked hair before talking.

"Okay, we want answers. Now" Dean said, his voice sounded serious.

"Walk with me" the boy replied. The rest of the group followed them through the main doors and into a huge wing full of other kids, some were chatting, others were exchanging weapons and fighting techniques. The boy turned back towards the group.

"You can go around and say hi to the other kids. But if any zombies try to get in, there's an emergency exit through the kitchen and out the double-doors" he announced before the group broke apart. He walked back towards Dean and started shaking his hand.

"I'm Damien. You?" he asked before letting go.

"I'm Dean, nice to meet you. So, how'd you set all this up?" he asked whilst looking around the room.

"Me, Jake and that blonde girl Lizzie made our way over here after those things attacked. We were able to find some weapons from the gun store a few miles away and we've been taking in other survivors. So far, we haven't had any hope of rescue. We're running out of food and nobody's brave enough to go scouting for more" Damien explained. He looked nervous. Dean then had an idea.

"We can go," he said. Damien gave him a confused look.

"Are you insane? There could be hundreds of them things out there," he explained, pointing towards the museum entrance.

"Don't worry. We'll go after dark, those things have to sleep sometime" Dean replied.

"You have a point. But I thought the mall was full of them things" Damien said.

"It is. But a few miles away, there should be a 7-11 store. We can grab some food from there and head back. Plus, we could check to see if there are any more weapons" Dean explained, his voice gleaming with hope. Damien thought about it for a second and then finally answered.

"Okay, we'll wait until dark" he replied.

**- 10:30pm -**

Dean, Luke, Joel and Alex made final check of everything before they left. They were bringing water, flashlights, extra ammo and a map of the surrounding areas. They made their way to front exit where Lizzie stood; her hand was placed on the door lock. She turned to Dean and placed a flare gun in his hand.

"Make sure you fire it before you arrive. That way we can be ready to close the doors quickly" she explained. Dean nodded in response and placed the gun in his satchel. As soon as the all-clear signal sounded, the 4 of them made their way into the darkness. Suddenly, Dean heard the sound of footsteps behind him; he turned to see Erica heading his way. She stopped in front of him and gave him a kiss on the cheek, Dean heard the others wolf-whistle from behind him.

"Stay safe," she whispered before heading back inside. The doors slammed shut, leaving the boys in darkness. Dean just stood there for a second before heading towards the group. Luke led them as they headed down the street, their flashlights sending beams of light down the empty, abandoned street. Alex walked over to him.

"She's a keeper," he said before picking up speed. Dean just rolled his eyes and carried on walking.

"_I guess she is_"

**A/N: That's it for another chapter. I hope some of you review; it's a bit pointless writing a story that gets no reviews. PLEASE REVIEW! No pressure. Read, REVIEW, Man your computers and may the force be with you.**


	5. The Loss

**A/N: ****Dia duit****chairde****! (Which means "Hello friends!" in Irish). Think of it as a salute to all irishmen and women. Anyways, the delorean is back in town and I'm going to Laser Tag tonight. LIFE IS GOOD! Well, that's enough outta me, enjoy.**

**-At the museum-**

Erica hummed softly as the little boy drifted off to sleep. She'd had experience in looking after little kids, mostly her brother. As she looked over the sea of sleeping children, she noticed that Rebecca was sitting in the corner by herself. Erica got up from where she'd been sitting and made her way across the room. She saw that Rebecca was looking at a photo of her and Joel with a man and a woman in their mid-forties. The woman was wearing a long flowing wedding dress.

"That was my mom. They took this photo a few minutes before that guy came through the glass. It's my last memory of them, Joel's now the only family I have," she said before letting the tears stream down her face.

"Don't worry" Erica said comfortingly.

"How do you know? He's just gone outside. Who knows if he'll ever come back?" Rebecca replied before pulling her knees to her chest and weeping uncontrollably.

"Listen. Even I know that they might not come back. But we need to stay strong. I'm sure that by tomorrow, they'll be back here with enough food to feed an army," Erica said. Rebecca slowly lifted her head up and looked Erica in the eyes.

"Really?" she asked.

"Really. I've seen your brother in action. He's the best sharpshooter I've ever seen and I'm sure he's more than capable of taking down a few zombies" Erica replied with a smile plastered on her face. Rebecca took her knees away from her chest and sat in the same position as Erica.

"So, I guess you're saying that cause you have a loved one out there too" Rebecca said. Erica stared at her with a look of confusion.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Dean's your boyfriend right?" Rebecca replied. No sooner had Rebecca said the word boyfriend, Erica's mouth flopped open.

"What? No way, Dean and I are just friends" she said. From the tone of Erica's voice, Rebecca could tell she was lying.

"Oh come on Erica. I saw you kiss him," Rebecca said with a smirk. Erica's face went red instantly. Even though it was dark, it was easily noticeable.

"Um…but I…um…" Erica was trying her best to find a good excuse. Rebecca simply laughed but was quietened down when someone else in the room shushed her.

"Come on Erica. You like him don't you?" Rebecca said simply. It took a few seconds, but Erica finally answered.

"I guess, but he doesn't even feel the same way as me. I bet he's got his mind on that bimbo Lizzie" Erica answered.

"Oh come on. He's had his eye on you the second you guys got on the bus" Rebecca said. Erica's eyes went wide.

"He did?" she asked.

"You bet. And I bet that he's dying to get back here" Rebecca replied. Erica took a second to take it all in. Maybe she was wrong; maybe he did feel for her.

"Yeah. I bet he is," she said. Suddenly, a voice whispered from the other side of the room.

"You two. Go to sleep" it said. Erica laid her head onto one of the throw pillows they'd found and closed her eyes.

"_I don't know where he is, but I bet he's having the time of his life_"

**-Meanwhile-**

"THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!" Dean yelled as he took down another zombie, its internal organs exploding out of it's back. From all around, the sounds of cheering and whooping filled the streets as each of them took down another one of the Dead. After another few minutes, there were no more zombies in sight. They each let out a whoop and did a group highfive.

"I've never felt so alive" Alex said. Even though his ankle ached from where it had been twisted, he was still full of energy.

"I thought just doing this in the video games was fun, but this is epic" Joel replied, his sniper at his side.

"Well don't get used to it, we've still got a long way to go. What time is it anyway?" Luke asked. Dean glanced at his watch.

"10 minutes past midnight" he replied.

"Seriosusly? We've gotta rest" Luke said.

"Are you sure that's safe?" Joel replied.

"Absolutly, we can camp out in the park for the night. Alex, you'll keep watch first" Luke explained. Alex nodded and they made their way towards the park. The river was covered with algae and had turned a dark shade of green. They each found a park bench and lied down on it. Alex sat down in between them with his AK47 raised.

"_Please nobody creep up behind me, please nobody creep up behind me, please nobody creep up behind me..._" he repeated over and over again in his mind.

**-The next day-**

Dean awoke to the sound of birds, he got into the sitting position and looked around at the group, Joel was checking his sniper, Alex was asleep and Luke was spraying deoderant under his arms. Without his denim jacket on, Dean could see that Luke had bulky muscles. Luke put his shirt and jacket back on and headed over towards Dean.

"Mornin'. You got anythin to eat" Luke asked.

"One sec, I think I have a sandwich in here somewhere" he said whilst rummaging through his satchel. Soon enough, he produced a fresh tuna sandwich, took off the plastic container and handed half to Luke. Dean took a bite and looked at his watch, it read 9:36AM.

"How come Alex is still sleeping?" Dean asked before glancing at his napping friend.

"Well, he was on watch all night" Luke replied before taking another bite out of the sandwich. Suddenly, Dean looked at Luke with wide eyes.

"LUKE LOOK OUT!" Dean warned, but it was too late. The zombie put it's arms around Luke and took a whole chunk out of his neck. Luke let out a scream as the pain surged through him like an electric shock. Joel quickly raised his sniper and got the zombie right between the eyes. It dropped to the ground just beside the bench. Dean ran to Luke's side and held him in his arms, he was losing blood fast.

"Luke, can you hear me man?" Dean pleaded. Luke slowly opened his eyes.

"Cough – Hey Dean. How's it – cough cough – going?" he said with a smile. Dean put on a smile.

"Don't die on us Luke. You're our leader" Dean said.

"Every leader has to die sometime. It's up to you now. Take care of these guys for me, 'kay?" he asked, Dean could tell that Luke's heartbeat was getting slower. Dean nodded before Luke's eyes finally closed. Dean got up off the ground and walked over to Joel who still had his sniper raised.

"He's dead" Dean said bluntly. Joel lowered his eyes and he let a single tear drop to the ground. Suddenly, they heard shuffling from where Alex had been sleeping. They looked to see that he had finally woken up. He let out a yawn and rubbed his eyes.

"Good morning" he said with a smile. It quickly changed to a frown when he saw the looks of dread on his friends faces.

"What'd I miss?" he asked.

**-Later-**

As the group continued walking, Dean turned back towards the park which was slowly dissapearing into the distance. They'd left Luke's body on the bench and covered it with some abandoned tarp they'd found. It was what he would've wanted. Alex ran along side Dean.

"What do we do now?" Alex asked. Dean looked at his last remaining fighters. An afro ninja and a sharpshooting James Bond, they might've looked like a bunch of misfits, but they were the best fighters Dean could've hoped for. Dean smiled before talking.

"We're going to survive Alex. Now lets get to that 7-11" he said proudly. And with that, they once again started walking down the street. Knowing that salvation was only a few miles away.

**A/N: OMG, LUKE'S DEAD! We'll remember him proudly. Anyways, read, review, Man your computers and May the force be with you. **


	6. The Newbie

**A/N: I LUV CHICKEN! Oh wait...I forgot I was writing just now. Anyways, hello and welcome. Our team won Laser Tag on Sunday. 803 to 575, in your faces apponents. So, I guess you're wondering if there will be anymore tragic deaths for my characters, just to let you know, I'm might kill one more. BUT it will be a great way to go out. Enjoy. **

"WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS MY FRIEND! AND WE'LL KEEP ON FIGHTING TO THE END!" the group sung as they made their way across the abandoned town square. They were still depressed about the loss of Luke, so Dean had decided to lift their spirits with a song. And so far, it was working perfectly. They'd had a bit of trouble with the Dead, but it wasn't anything a few bullets to the head couldn't solve. Dean had been on alert ever since they'd left the park, Luke's last words echoed in his head as if they were a sign that he was still watching over them.

"_Every leader has to die sometime. It's up to you now. Take care of these guys for me, 'kay?_" Dean had known from then on, he had to take charge. Suddenly, they heard something behind them.

"Hello? Somebody help me!" Dean looked back the way they came, through all the wreckage, he could make out the shape of a teenage girl heading towards them. Judging by the sound of groaning behind her, the Dead were closing in. She had pale skin, ginger hair and dark eye liner. She wore a tattered 'Escape the Fate' hoodie with a dark skirt and leggings and had dark sneekers. She dashed over to the group and dove behind Joel.

"They're coming. We need to move" she urged, Dean turned back again, only to see a hoarde of the Dead heading their direction.

"THIS WAY!" Dean ordered before they headed down a narrow road. As they made their way down the road, Dean noticed an apartment door had been left open. He turned back towards the others.

"WE CAN HIDE IN THEIR! MOVE!" he called out. So they ran for the door and slammed it shut. Dean pressed his ear against the wood, he let out a sigh of releif as the sound of the hoarde running by ceased. They were all gasping for air, Dean turned towards the girl before talking.

"Who are you?" he asked. The girl looked up at him.

"I'm Cathy. I've been hiding around this area ever since those things arrived" she explained before Dean was knocked to the ground by a powerful force coming from the other side of the door. He got up off the floor and looked through the peep hole. Through the blurred glass, he could see a single zombie propelling itself against the wood.

"We need to get out of here" Alex said, he sounded terrified.

"We can't. That's the only way out" Joel replied. He headed for the stairs before turning back to the others.

"Looks like the only way is up" he said. Everyone exchanged worried looks before Dean spoke.

"He's right. Lets go" he ordered before they headed up the stairs. Just as they passed the 4th floor, the sound of splintering wood filled the place. They looked down the stairwell to see a figure making it's way up the steps. They picked up speed as they made their way towards the roof opening. Alex grabbed he door knob and tried to open it, the sound of footsteps were getting closer.

"It's locked" he said.

"Let me through" Dean replied as he raised his gun to the lock. There was an almighty bang as the handle exploded, leaving a gaping hole in the door. Everybody made their way out and Dean closed the door behind them. That's when he realised he'd blown the lock off.

"Help me keep this thing shut" he called. They ran to his side as a disfigured hand reached through the hole. Cathy let out a scream as it tried to reach for her. But no matter how hard they tried, the door finally burst open, propelling their weapons across the roof of the apartment building. Dean looked up at the figure and gasped. It wore a denim jacket and jeans. He instantly recognised who it was.

"Luke?" he finally choked up as the horrifying face of their former friend gazed upon them in glory. He then noticed the pistol that sat in Luke's pocket.

"_Why did I leave his weapon with him?_" Dean thought to himself. Suddenly, Alex charged at Luke, but Luke simply raised his pistol and shot him in the shoulder. Alex dropped to the floor and screamed in pain as blood poured out of his wound. Joel and Cathy ran to Alex's side to try and stop the bleeding. Alex looked back up at Dean, he could see Luke raising his gun to Dean's head. It was hard to understand, but he could've sworn he heard Luke say something.

"Ugghh...gbuugh...goodbghye...weahkling" he managed to splutter out as blood dribbled down the side of his mouth. Alex then noticed that Luke was standing right by the edge of the building. Then he remembered the first thing he'd said to Dean.

"_Thanks man. I owe you one_" He then narrowed his eyes and whispered in Joel's ear.

"Tell Dean we're even" he said, before getting off the ground and charging towards Luke yet again.

"LEAVE MY FRIEND ALONE!" was the last thing Luke heard before Alex tackled him over the edge of the building. Dean could only watch as his friend and his former leader plummeted to their deaths. He turned to Joel and smirked, Cathy had her arms wrapped around Joel and was crying into the crook of his neck. Joel looked up at Dean, his face was bright red.

"So sweet" Dean mouthed before Joel secretly flipped him off. They made their way down the stairwell and out the front entrance, Dean gasped at what he saw laying in the road. Alex's body was motionless as a river of blood poured out of his skull, his afro soaked with blood. The same had happened to Luke who's body lay a few feet from where Alex had landed. Dean walked over to Alex's body, his lifeless eyes were still open. Dean reached down and closed them. Was this going to happen to the rest of them? Were they all going to suffer the same fate? Dean blocked these questions out of his mind and narrowed his eyes. He turned towards Joel and Cathy and started walking their direction.

"No more" he said quietly.

"What?" Joel replied.

"NO MORE! I'm not losing another friend" Dean said even louder. He then walked over to where Luke's gun had landed and picked it up off the ground. He walked back over to Cathy and placed the gun in her hand.

"Can you use this?" he asked. Cathy stared at the gun before answering.

"I-I think so" she replied. Dean smiled.

"Then lets go. If we move fast enough, we could make to 7-11 by tonight" he said. Joel and Cathy smiled before the group made their way down the road once again.

"_Hold on Erica. I'm comin' home_"

**A/N: Alex is dead too? How cruel am I? However, he did go out bravely. Anyways, if CC333 reads this, I've decided to accept your offer of writing a story with you. PM me if you have any good ideas for one. RnR, man you computers and May the force be with you. **


	7. The Hunters and The Arrival

**A/N: Holla! How's everybody doin' today? Soz about the EXTREMLY long update time, I had work experience and my computer wasn't working for a while. But on the bright side, I have no school for a whole week and I can have fast food for lunch whenever I want to (my favourite places to get lunch are SUBWAY, McDonalds and KFC). But that's enough out of my awesome mouth, enjoy.**

**-Back at the museum-**

As more and more zombies passed the museum, Damien sat on the roof, his pump shotgun at his side. It had been two whole days and there was till no sign of Dean or rescue. Some of the smarter survivors were trying to get a radio to work; they thought there might be a broadcast or something still active. But there hadn't been any luck so far. Damien knew that it was only a matter of time before they ran out of food completely. Suddenly, he heard the door open behind him. He turned to see Lizzie standing in the doorway. She strolled over to him and sat at his side on the edge of the building.

"Any sign of the others?" she asked.

"Nein. Nothin' but walking meat as far as the eye can see" he replied, his eyes fixated on the predators below. Lizzie sighed before speaking.

"Oh well. I'm sure they'll be back by tomorrow," Lizzie said hopefully.

"Yeah. Maybe" Damien said with a smile. However, the smile soon faded away as the sound of screaming and banging erupted from inside. They headed down the stairwell and to the front entrance. Everybody in the museum was crowding round the front entrance to watch the scene unfold. The sound of groaning and screaming could be heard outside as multiple hands reached through various gaps in the door. Damien turned towards some kids in various war uniforms.

"Kyle, Nate, Lizzie and Sam, get everybody out the back entrance. The others and me need to hold those zombies back. Get out when you get the chance" he ordered. They all nodded in response before Damien turned back to the rest of the children.

"Follow Kyle, Lizzie and Sam to the back exit, get out as fast as possible" he said. They started making their way to the back exit whilst Damien loaded his gun and turned to Erica.

"If I don't make it back, tell Lizzie I'm putting her in charge, okay?" he asked.

"I promise. Good Luck" she said before catching up with the others. Suddenly, Damien could hear the sound of creaking as the wood started to give way. He turned back toward the door and raised his gun.

"This is for killing my mom you dicks," he uttered just as the door collapsed and a sea of zombies swarmed in.

Tears began to form in Lizzie's eyes as the sound of gunfire and screaming echoed from inside the building. That was her best friend in there, the boy she'd been friends with since kindergarten was being slaughtered and she'd let him stay behind. It was only when the screaming ceased that she let the tears go. Rebecca ran to her side and tried to console her.

"He didn't die in vain. That's what's most important," she said.

"Erm…guys?" Erica called from behind them. They turned towards her and gasped. Massive hoards of zombies were at the other end of the back alley. Erica quickly turned towards the remaining soldier kids.

"How much ammo do you guys have?" she asked. Kyle turned to face her.

"Enough. But we can't take them all down" he uttered helplessly.

"Well what do we-" was all Erica said before a huge explosion filled the alleyway. As soon as the smoke cleared, mutilated zombie corpses had been tossed everywhere and the walls had been painted a dark crimson. The zombies all turned towards the other end of the alleyway. Standing at the other end were three figures, each was wearing a riot gear uniform and had weapons slung over their shoulders. The one standing at the front took out a large medium rare steak. Immediately the zombies were fixated on the meal that was being hung in front of them. Another one of the figures lifted their mask; he had straightened dark red hair with a white streak going through it. He looked towards the group.

"Go around them slowly. Don't make any noises or sudden movements," he whispered. And sure enough, they slowly walked around the decaying hoard as they continued to stare at the succulent meat. As soon as everybody was out of the alley, the boy started talking again.

"When I say now, run and take cover," he said, everybody nodded before the boy gave thumbs up to the figure with the steak. Suddenly, the figure threw the steak down to the other end of the alleyway, the hoard followed suite. They were devouring it before it even hit the ground. The boy took a small green object with a pin. Erica gasped as she saw it was a grenade. He pulled the pin and threw it down the alley.

"NOW!" he yelled as a small clunk sounded from inside the alley. Immediately, they ran the opposite direction and ducked down behind and abandoned car. After a few seconds, a huge bang erupted from the alley and a dead body landed on the car bonnet. Most of the little kids screamed, but Rebecca and Erica were able to calm them down. They slowly rose up off of the ground and turned towards the other figures in riot gear. They took off their masks, they were both boys, one had spiked up black hair and the other had short blonde hair and wore glasses. The one with black hair spoke first.

"I'm Ross. You've already met Jacob," he said whilst gesturing towards the boy with red hair.

"And the one with glasses is Ron" he said. The boy with glasses waved hello. Erica stepped forward.

"I'm Erica. We were hiding out in the museum, but it's been breached and we need somewhere else to go," she explained. Ross whispered to Jacob and Ron before answering.

"Are you guys good in a fight?" he asked.

"Well…not all of us. But Nate and the ones in soldier's uniforms are" she said hopefully. Ross thought for a second until he finally answered.

"Sure, we have plenty of room. Us and a few other survivors are hiding out in the subway station, we've got food, water and the best soldiers you could want; we call ourselves 'The Hunters'. You should be safe" he replied.

"Should be?" Lizzie asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's either the subway or you can take your chances back at the museum" Jacob said. Erica turned back towards the others, Jacob did have a point and there was no way they would survive on their own. Erica took a deep breath and turned back to Ross.

"Okay, we'll go with you. But…do any of you have paper and a pen?" she asked. Ron immediately started to fumble in his pockets until finally taking out a crumpled piece of paper and a battered biro. Erica took it from him and started to write something down, all the while the others had no idea what she was doing. When she was finished, she handed the biro back to Ron and headed back towards the museum front entrance. After a few seconds she emerged from the museum doors and ran back to the group.

"Lets go. I take it you have someway of getting us there" she asked.

"Yep, follow me" he ordered. They started walking and turned a corner to find three heavily armed S.W.A.T. vans. Each had been numbered 1 to 3 with "The Hunters" written underneath each number. Ross stopped and turned back towards the group.

"How many of you guys are there?" he asked.

"27 I think" Lizzie called out.

"And how many soldiers are there?" Ross asked again.

"Including Nate, we have 6" Rebecca replied.

"Okay. There'll be 9 in each van. We'll need at least 2 soldiers in each," he announced. They split up into 3 groups and got into a van each. Ross was at the wheel in van #1, Jacob was in van #2 and Ron was driving van #3. Soon enough, the vans suddenly roared into life and made their way down the abandoned road. Erica stared out of the caged window and sighed.

"_Please be okay Dean. Please_"

**-Meanwhile-**

2 hours. Alex had been dead for no more than 2 hours. And still Dean couldn't get the image of Alex's body out of his mind. They had been heading along the same stretch of road for what seemed like years and still they hadn't made it. Dean could've sworn the 7-11 was down this road. What if it had been destroyed? What if they'd come all this way for nothing? What if they'd lost Luke and Alex for jack squat? All these questions were immediately silenced as Joel called out from behind him.

"DEAN, BEHIND YOU!" he called out. Dean turned to see the zombified corpse of a middle-aged man trying to bite him. Suddenly, there was a big bang and blood splattered in Dean's face as the zombie dropped to the ground. He wiped the blood off of his face and looked towards where the shot had been fired. Cathy had her pistol raised, a small amount of smoke wafted from the barrel. Joel and Dean's mouths hung open as Cathy blew the smoke away and lowered the gun. She smirked and offered Dean a hand up. He grabbed hold and she pulled him to his feet.

"Nice shot" Dean complimented as he wiped the blood off his face.

"Just lucky I guess" she replied. Suddenly, Joel called out from behind them.

"Guys, look" he said whilst pointing down the road. They followed his gaze and gasped. In the distance, past all the wreckage and destruction, stood the 7-11 store. It's sign shone like it was the gateway to heaven. Dean could feel tears in his eyes, after all their losses, they'd finally made it to their final destination.

"We made it. WE FUCKING MADE IT!" he cheered whilst firing a couple of bullets in the air. Meanwhile, Joel grabbed Cathy by the waist, lifted her off the ground and spun her in a circle. Instantly, they came back to reality and Joel placed her back on the ground. Their faces were a mixture of embarrassment and happiness. Dean just rolled his eyes at the scene before speaking again.

"Come on love birds. We've got a mission to complete," he ordered before they started walking down the road. As they continued walking, Dean took a quick glance back at his remaining fighters. He could've sworn they were holding hands. It took a while, but they finally made it to the front entrance. Joel walked up and pressed his face against the glass. Inside, the store was full of food, drinks, supplies, everything a person could need to survive in an apocalypse. He turned back towards the group.

"It's locked. Double layered glass doors. Any ideas?" he asked. Dean walked up and tapped the glass with his shotgun barrel. After a second to think, he turned towards Joel.

"We can't use the guns, we'll alert zombies. We'll have to kick it in," he said. Joel nodded in response and stood beside Dean.

"Ready? One, two…" but before he could reach three, he heard the sounds of a gun loading and Cathy's screams from behind them. They slowly turned around to see a girl holding a Beretta 93R pistol to Cathy head. The girl wore a 7-11 shirt with black trousers and black shoes. Cathy wriggled in the girl grasp.

"Let me go bitch" she screamed. The 7-11 girl responded by firing the gun in the air before bringing it back to Cathy's head.

"I don't give more than one warning shot Ginger. What are you doing here?" she ordered the boys. Joel replied by raising his sniper to the 7-11 girl's face, Cathy gasped.

"LET HER GO OR I'LL SHOOT!" he yelled. The 7-11 girl just smirked.

"Try me Rambo, I'm in the mood for a good standoff" she replied. Dean finally stepped between the two of them and lowered their guns.

"Listen you two, we're in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, we're losing daylight and you each have a gun to your head. Now call me crazy, but I think we should get inside" he said. Joel and the 7-11 girl exchanged angry looks and finally lowered their weapons. Cathy ran to Joel's side and Dean let out a sigh of relief.

"That's better. Now lets get inside," he decided. The 7-11 girl walked up to the door and took a key out of her pocket; she turned it in the lock and the glass doors swung open. They quickly got inside and locked the door again. They all waked over to the cash register and rested on the counter. Dean turned to the 7-11 girl before speaking.

"I'm Dean, this is Joel and Cathy" he introduced. The 7-11 girl put on a smile and replied.

"I'm Jenna, now what do you want?" she asked.

**A/N: Well, that's it for another chapter. I'm sure a few of you have been wondering. Why was Cathy running in the first place? How did Jenna end up locked in the 7-11 store? All these questions will be answered in later chapters. As for now, farewell. **


	8. The Story of Jenna

**A/N: Oh me gosh, it's an update! Keep away from me lucky charms you urchins. Greetings dudes and dudettes, once again I have added another pwnage chapter to the continuing story of 'Carry On My Wayward Son'. Sorry for this took so long, I've been camping. Well, that's the end of another authors note, enjoy.**

As the S.W.A.T vans ploughed through the abandoned street, the sound of zombies getting crushed under the heavy tyres echoed through the ears of those sitting in the back. Jacob wished he were sitting in the back. For the whole journey, the kids had been talking, shouting and generally pissing him off. How was he supposed to concentrate on driving with all that chatter? He was trying his best attempts to block the sound, yet they all ended in an epic fail. He rolled his eyes and continued driving. The big problem about The Hunters was soon to come. _Should I tell them what we've been doing? Will they think I'm a monster? Will they escape?_ As each of these questions popped into his head, he felt a tear roll down his cheek.

It's my own fault for joining The Hunters in the first place. Why did I let them do that to Jessica? I know she wasn't a good fighter but they didn't have to…

Suddenly, a scream echoed through the back of the van. He instantly stopped and pulled away the shutter so he could see what was going on back there. Erica looked back at him, her face covered in tears.

"Open…open the door…p-please," she said between sobs. Jacob nodded and pressed the door release, Erica charged out of the doors and headed down a road. Jacob got out his AR-10 Attack Rifle, loaded the rounds and headed out the side door. He looked inside the back of the S.W.A.T. van and turned to Nate and Kyle, then Rebecca.

"Hurley and Kyle, you guys come with me. Rebecca, if you see any zombies, close the doors immediately" he explained.

"Got it," she replied before Jacob, Nate and Kyle headed after Erica. Rebecca looked across at the other two S.W.A.T. Vans, each of the back doors opened and 2 soldiers came out of each. They loaded their weapons and headed in the same direction as Jacob.

Jacob followed Erica until she finally stopped in the middle of the road, dropped to her knees and wept. It wasn't until he reached that he realised was she was crying about. Lying in the road was the body of a Negro boy with a bloodstained Afro and puddle of blood pouring out of his skull. Lying a few feet away was the body of a buff teenage boy with a denim jacket and a trucker's cap. Jacob kneeled down beside Erica and put a comforting arm around her.

"Did you know them?" he asked sympathetically.

"Uh–_sniff-_uh-huh" she sniffled.

"Who are they?" he asked.

"The-they were with my boyfr…my friend. They were heading to the 7-11 on the other side of town for supplies. How could this happen to them?" Erica wondered sadly. Jacob looked over to the other body. A couple of soldiers were kneeling beside it; they seemed to be studying it. After a few seconds, they got up off the ground and started heading towards Jacob. He unwrapped his arm from around Erica's neck and stood to attention.

"What happened?" he asked the first soldier. He had brown hair that's been brushed to the side and piercing blue eyes.

"The trucker kid's neck had been torn open. And judging by the state of his skin, I'm guessing he was a zombie" he explained. Jacob nodded before turning back to the other body.

"What about the afro guy?" he asked. The second soldier walked over to the body, she had dark blue hair that'd been put in a ponytail and had light green eyes. She knelt down beside the body and examined it closely. After a few seconds, she got up and turned to Jacob.

"No signs of infection and a smashed skull. I'm guessing he fell from the top of that building," she said whilst gesturing to the open door of the apartment building. Jacob raised an eyebrow and turned back to the blue haired girl.

"Head up to the roof, there may be somebody else up there, we'll wait for you in the vans. Any sign of zombies, fire you rifle 3 times and we'll come running," he ordered.

"Okay" she replied before heading through the apartment door. Jacob knelt down beside Erica again.

"We have to go, 'kay?" he asked. She looked up at him with red, puffy eyes and nodded. He helped her off the ground and started to head back to the vans.

Ross sat at the wheel of Van no.1, as he watched the group socialising, he wished that things could be normal again. Ever since The Hunters had formed, he'd been getting more and more frustrated. It was giving him a headache. He reached inside his left pocket and produced a tub of painkillers; he emptied a few into his hand and swallowed them dry. He cradled his head in his hands as he reminisced the moment that sicko had broke through the front door and started attacking his little sister. And what did he do? Nothing. He just sat there and watched in agony as it fed on his younger sibling with no concept of mercy. If only he'd been a bit braver, maybe his sister would've survived. If only, if only, if only…

Those two nightmarish words played over and over again in his mind as the screams of his sister echoed in the background. He felt could feel wet tears running down his cheeks, it was from the moment his sister had stopped screaming that he'd dedicated his life to protecting his tribe. Suddenly, he heard a gun fire three times from down the street. He instantly wiped his tears away, loaded his M4A Carbine and stepped out the side door. He ran alongside Jacob and watched as the blue haired girl ran for her life as more and more zombies gathered behind her.

"Prepare for battle. We need to protect the kids at all costs" he ordered the soldiers. They each loaded their weapons and aimed towards the oncoming hoard. As soon as the blue haired girl ran behind the soldiers, they opened fire. Erica watched from inside the S.W.A.T van as more and more zombies dropped to the ground. Suddenly, the van door burst open and the blue haired girl got inside. She sat on the bench and turned to Erica.

"I found this on the roof. I thought you might want it," she said. Erica looked at the object in the girl's hand, it was Alex's AK47. Erica could feel tears welling up in her eyes again as images of Alex's body flashed into her mind. She instantly wiped away her tears and grabbed the gun from the blue haired girl.

"Lets go," she said. The blue haired girl nodded and they both headed out the back door. Erica raised the gun to the hoard and pulled the trigger. The sound of the bullets being fired was louder than expected, but even though she was killing what used to be people, it felt good. Erica could feel a smile coming on as she took down more and more of the decaying attackers. But soon enough she ran out of bullets.

"_Maybe Jacob has more ammo_," she thought before turning Jacob's direction. Shy let out a gasp as the walking corpse of a middle-aged woman started heading towards Jacob from behind. She tried calling out but he couldn't hear her over the gunfire. She narrowed her eyes and ran full speed towards the zombie. She raised the AK47 and let out a battle cry. The zombie turned its head towards her just as she shoved the barrel of the gun through its brain. It dropped to the ground and lay still. Jacob turned to face her but was immediately taken off guard by the zombie on the ground. He blinked a few times before looking back up at her.

"Did…did you do that?" he asked. She nodded with a smile before he gave her another ammunition pack for the gun. She reloaded and they resumed fire.

**-Meanwhile-**

Dean sat across the counter from Jenna, in-between them was a tub of salsa and a pack of Chilli-heatwave Doritos. Joel and Cathy had gone somewhere else in the store to "find some stuff" apparently. But Dean knew what that really meant. He looked up at Jenna who'd just started eating another Dorito.

"So, how'd you end up in the store?" Dean asked. Jenna choked on her Dorito as a response, but was soon able to swallow it.

"Umm…It's a long story" she responded. Dean could tell that something bad had happened.

"We have a long wait until it's safe to go outside. It'll help pass the time right?" he asked. Jenna looked up at him with sad eyes and sighed.

"Okay. It all happened on the day we left for summer vacation. I'd just arrived for my part time job…"

**-3 days ago-**

_Jenna headed through the automatic door just as she applied her nametag. She headed over to the counter to find her dad listening to the radio._

"_And there have been reports of a car accident on the highway heading to New York involving a Red Chevrolet. There have also been reports of many attacks on that same stretch of highway, the attackers have been described to be very violent and psychotic. I urge anyone who's listening to this to stay in your hom…" was all she was able to hear before it went static. Jenna was confused. Why did he seem so terrified? She shrugged it off and headed behind the counter. Her dad turned in surprise._

"_Oh hello Jenna. I didn't see ya there" he said. She just rolled her eyes._

"_I don't blame you dad. As you get older, your hearing starts to get worse" she replied. Her dad's eyes went wide._

"_Old? I'm only 53" he said in response._

"_And I'm 15. So I'm the one with better hearing," she said smugly._

"_Don't push your luck young lady. Now head over to the 'Potato Chips Aisle' and fill up on stock" he said._

"_Sure dad" she replied before heading over to the storeroom._

_**-**_**4 hours later-**

_Jenna looked over to the clock above the door. It read 22:00, only half an hour till the end of her shift. On the security cameras, she could see her friend who she'd met on the job sweeping the 'Frozen Food Aisle'. His name was Douglas, he had spiked up blonde hair and had his lip pierced, she thought he looked kind of cute. Suddenly, she heard her dad call from inside the storeroom. _

"_Hey Douglas, quittin' time" he called out. _

"_Okay Mr. Knight. See ya tomorrow" he called back in response. He put the broom back in the corner, grabbed his jacket and started heading for the back door. All of a sudden, he felt somebody tap him on the shoulder. He turned to see Jenna standing there anxiously._

"_Is something wrong Jenna?" he asked. She had her hands behind her back and was looking at the ground._

"_No. Actually…I was wondering…are you doing anything tomorrow after work?" she asked. He raised one of his eyebrows before responding._

"_Umm…nope. Why?" he asked again. This time it took her a little longer to respond._

"_Well…do you want to…I don't know…see a movie or something?" she asked. As she gazed into his hazel eyes, he began to smile, so did she._

"_Sure. So…tomorrow at 22:30?" he asked once again._

"_Yeah, sure. See ya then" she said with a smile. He turned and opened the back door._

"_Bye Jenna" he said before heading out into the night and closing the door behind him. Jenna could have sworn her heart had stopped beating. She headed back to the counter to see her dad standing there with a smug smile on his face. _

"_What are you smiling about?" she asked._

"_Oh nothin'. I just thought I'd watch a little TV," he said whilst gesturing to the security camera. Jenna's mouth hung open, her dad had been watching her the whole time._

"_You mean you saw me ask him out?" she said. He nodded and let out a little giggle. She just rolled her eyes and headed back behind the counter. Suddenly, her attention was once again focused on the security cameras monitor. It showed the same back ally from where the back exit lead to. And it showed someone in a hoodie attacking another person in a leather jacket. _

"_What's that?" she asked. Her dad turned towards the camera monitor and let out a gasp. He let out a gasp before heading to the back door and stepping outside. Jenna turned to the monitor as she watched her dad walk over to the fight scene and pull the attacker off of the boy…wait, that was Douglas. He'd been the one getting attacked. She watched in awe as Douglas and her dad beat up the boy in the hoodie. As soon as the body lay still, they started to head back inside. Jenna immediately turned to the door and ran over to the two of them. _

"_What happened?" she asked Douglas._

"_I don't know, I just walked outside and he started to attack me" he responded, she could hear the terror in his voice. She turned to her dad._

"_Are you okay dad?" she asked. He was breathing heavily._

"_Yeah…I'll be…fine," he said between breaths. She let out a sigh of relief. Suddenly, the sound of screaming and destruction echoed from outside the store. Through the glass door, she could see many people running in terror, some were being attacked and others were becoming the attackers. She gripped Douglas's hand as the scene became more and more horrific. Her knelt down so that he came to eye level with Jenna._

"_Stay in here. If I don't come back within and hour, lock the doors and don't let anybody in, okay?" he said. She nodded in response and he kissed her on the forehead. He got up and turned to Douglas._

"_Douglas, take care of my daughter. It's been a pleasure working with you," he said. And held out his hand to Douglas._

"_Thanks Mr. Knight" he replied before shaking his hand. Jenna's dad headed out the automatic doors and started walking down the street. Jenna held back tears as her father disappeared from sight. All of a sudden, she could hear somebody calling to her from outside._

"_LOCK THE DOORS! LOCK THE DOORS!" the voice called. She ran over to the door, put the key in the lock and the twisted the key just as her father slammed against the glass. She screamed as she watched the attacker rip her father's stomach open and feast on the insides. She ran back to Douglas and flung her arms around his neck; he hugged her back as he watched her father get devoured._

_**-**_**30 minutes later-**

_It had been half and hour since Jenna's father had been attacked and dragged off. He'd left a smeared bloodstain on the glass from where he'd been ripped open. As Jenna and Douglas both sat behind the counter, Jenna kept on crying. Douglas had his arm wrapped around her and had been doing his best to try and comfort her. He'd been in deep thought ever since he got attacked and he was too scared to tell Jenna what happened to him. He then remembered that her dad had told him to keep her safe. And if it meant the worst possible option, so be it. He unwrapped his arm from around Jenna and looked her in the eyes._

"_Jenna, there's something I need to tell you" he said. She had a look of confusion plastered on her face as he started to roll up the sleeve on his jacket. She covered her mouth as he revealed a large bite on his forearm._

"_How did that happen?" she asked in shock._

"_That guy in the alley bit me before your dad arrived. And now I'm afraid I'll become one of those things" he explained. _

"_But…but you can't go" she pleaded._

"_I'm sorry Jenna. Your dad asked me to take care of you and I'm going to honour those wishes. I'm going to get as far away from this place as I can, I don't want to hurt you. Could you unlock the door?" he asked. She nodded just as her eyes filled with tears. They got up off of the ground and headed over to the front entrance, she put the key in the lock, turned the key and the doors swung open. Douglas held her hands and looked into her eyes, she did the same. He pulled her close and kissed her on the lips. They stayed that way for a few seconds before they pulled apart. _

"_I guess we're going to have to cancel our date," he said with a chuckle. She chuckled in response before he headed out the door. The doors closed behind him and he started sprinting down the road. Jenna locked the doors and headed back over to the counter, she lied down on the floor, closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep._

**-Now-**

Dean's mouth hung open, he though Joel's story was bad, but Jenna's was just terrible. He could see she was still upset from the whole ordeal.

"So, how'd you get the gun?" he asked.

"Dad kept it behind the counter in case of shoplifters" she explained whilst holding in her hand.

"A gun like that for a few shoplifters?" Dean asked in response.

"Dad was very safety conscious," she said. Her voice was starting to break as she started to remember her dad. Dean reached over and gave her a friendly hug.

"I'm sorry Jenna," he said.

**A/N: Whoa. I'm a deep writer. Well, that's the story of how Jenna ended up locked in the store. But that won't be my only flashback; I bet you're still wondering why Cathy was alone in the zombie infested city centre. Plus, I bet you're wondering what 'The Hunters" secret is. Well, you're not finding out yet. Until next time, be random whenever you have the chance. (BTW MY BIRTHDAY'S ON THE 29****TH**** OF AUGUST! 15 YEARS OLD BABY!)**


	9. The Story of Cathy

**A/N: Greetings collected scum and morons! Ha-ha just kidding, you guys know I love ya. Anyways, so begins another chapter of what has to be my longest story, right now I'm begging for 'The Walking Dead Season 1 DVD' for my birthday (I think it's plain obvious that I'd ask for that). Plus, I'm asking for Season 5 of 'Supernatural', that should keep me watching TV for a few weeks. But I'm probably boring you, enjoy.**

**-In the 7-11 'Drinks Aisle'-**

As Jenna and Dean were talking, on the other side of the store, Joel and Cathy were helping themselves to free cans of Mountain Dew, Pepsi and all the other soft drinks they could find. They'd been getting to know each other and so far, they'd been getting along really well. Cathy was wondering what that feeling was when Joel had spun her around, was it just nausea or was it something else? Her questions were interrupted when she heard his voice.

"Cathy? Have you been listening to me at all?" he asked. She looked into his deep green eyes as she talked to him.

"Umm…of course. I was just thinking about something" she replied, hoping that he'd actually fall for it. He just shrugged and took another swig of Mountain Dew. She did the same with her Pepsi. Joel looked up at her, they'd only met a few hours ago and already they were like best friends. Yet there was one question he wanted to ask her.

"Hey…Cathy? Where were you when all this happened?" he asked. She took the Pepsi can away from her mouth and wiped it with her sleeve.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well…when did you first see…those things?" he said whilst gesturing to the window. Through the filthy glass, the silhouettes of zombies slowly edged past the store. Cathy then realised what he was talking about.

"Okay. Well, I was walking home from school…"

**-3 days ago-**

"_GET BACK HERE YOU SLUT!" Stacy called as she Jasmine and Meg chased Cathy down the street. She looked back to see they were catching up. Cathy had always hated bullies, Stacy, Jasmine and Meg were always picking on her, calling her fat when she obviously wasn't, making fun of her clothes, the one thing that made it worse was the fact that she was ginger. All Cathy did was tell them to leave her the fuck alone and now they were chasing her for it. Cathy made a right turn down an alleyway; the other girls did the same. Stacy suddenly noticed it had a metal fence at the end, no way out. She grinned before shouting out to Cathy._

"_You're trapped, YOU HAD IT COMIN' YOU LITTLE BITCH!" she called out as Cathy kept on running towards the fence. But Cathy had a plan; she turned to the girls as she spoke._

"_If you knew the real me, you'd know that I take Free-Running lessons after school" she called out. She jumped up and grabbed the top of the fence, she then started pulling herself up and over before landing on the other side. Stacy and her friends stopped and gave her dirty looks; Stacy walked up to the fence and looked Cathy in the eyes._

"_I swear, the next time I see you, I'll rip your heart out and cram it back down your throat" she threatened. Cathy narrowed her eyes._

"_You deserved it Stacy. I've been taking your bullshit ever since high school and now I'm telling you to back off" she replied._

"_Well that's too bad. I'm not taking orders from a stupid gin…_

_SMACK!_

_Stacy dropped to the ground, she clutched her nose as more and more blood began to drop to the ground. Cathy had punched Stacy through the fence; Cathy rubbed her knuckles whilst glaring at Jasmine and Meg. Their mouths hung open as they watched their leader squirming on the ground._

"_Anyone else?" Cathy asked with and evil smile. Jasmine and Meg let out horrified gasps and ran for their lives. At this time, Stacy was slowly lifting herself off of the ground. She had really bad bruising and a trail of blood dripping down her face. Cathy glared at her through the fence._

"_Don't call me that," she ordered before walking off towards her home. Stacy just stood there, her facial expression a mixture of shock and awe. _

**-At Cathy's apartment building-**

"_Stupid elevator, after all these days of school, you decide to break down on the last day?" Cathy said to herself as she climbed the never-ending stairwell. As apartment 5B came into view, she let out a sigh of relief and went inside. Upon entering, she saw a note on the coffee table. It read:_

Dear Cathy

_**A drunk attacked your mom, he bit**_

_**her in the arm so I had to rush her to the hospital.**_

_**We'll be home late, there are fish sticks in the**_

_**freezer if you get hungry.**_

_**Love Dad**_

_Cathy gasped; she hoped her mother was okay. She shrugged it off and headed into the kitchen. She opened the freezer door and started searching for the fish sticks, whilst doing this it gave her sometime to think. Why did the drunk bite her? Cathy knew that drunks could be rough, but why would one bite her? Come to think of it, there'd been reports in the news about people getting attacked and bitten. What if it was spreading here? What if she got attacked? It took Cathy a few seconds to realise that she was sounding stupid; she finally grabbed the box of fish sticks and closed the freezer door._

"_Oh Cathy, you need to stop being so naive" she thought to herself as she placed the fish sticks in the microwave. As the microwave turned on, she headed into the living room and started browsing through her movie collection. After rejecting all of her dad's action movies, she found her favourite movie of all, the 2008 remake of Day of the Dead. She thought it failed a bit since these Spiderman zombies could climb on the ceiling, but she found it awesome either way. She headed over to the DVD Player and inserted the disc, soon enough she heard a 'ding' come from the microwave and headed back into the kitchen._

**-2 Hours Later- **

_Cathy awoke to the sound of glass breaking, she raised her head from the couch and turned to the TV, it showed the main menu for the DVD. _

"_I must've fallen asleep," she thought to herself. Suddenly, another smash echoed through the house and a brick landed on the ground in front of her. She slowly walked over to the window and peeked outside. Standing in the dark, bathed in the eerie yellow glow of the streetlight, was Stacy and a huge group of people. She recognised Jasmine and Megan, but there were some boys in hoodies that she didn't recognize. They were throwing everything they could get their hands on at her window._

"_WE'RE PUTTING YOU IN YOUR PLACE CATHY!" Stacy called out before hurling another brick through the smashed window, missing Cathy by inches. Cathy looked back towards the group and gasped. In Stacy's and was a Molotov Cocktail, Stacy just stood there with an evil grin on her face. She moved her arm back into the throwing position whilst Cathy ran behind the couch and ducked down. She covered her ears and prepared for the explosion that was bound to happen, she prepared to scream as the fire engulfed her body. But there was no explosion, there was no fire and the only screaming she could hear was happening outside. She got up from behind the couch and headed over to the window, it was only when she saw the horror happening outside that she screamed. One of the boys in hoodies had been pinned to the ground by a person in a brown overcoat; a small puddle of crimson was spreading across the concrete as the attacker feasted on the boy. As soon as it's prey had stopped moving, it started attacking one of the other hoodies. Cathy saw Meg head over to the one that had already been attacked; his body lay motionless on the ground. Suddenly, his eyes sprang open and he grabbed Meg by the throat. He shoved her and she landed on her back. He got up off the ground and his shadow consumed her before he started biting into her soft flesh. Soon enough, domino effects started as more and more of Stacy's crew were turned into zombies. Meanwhile, Cathy watched the horrific scene unfold right before her eyes as if her favourite movie had come to life. However, she couldn't help but let out a little scream. No sooner had it left her throat, the cold, lifeless eyes of everybody that had been attacked stared at her, some had just been turned, others were halfway through a meal. Cathy's eyes went wide as the pale corpse of Stacy stared back at her. Stacy just stood there, her skin had started turning from pale to pale green; hundreds of pus-filled boils began to emerge all over her once-flawless face. On her forearm was a huge, swollen bite; it was already starting to throb as the zombie's blood spread through her veins. All of a sudden, Stacy's mouth opened and she let out an ear-piercing scream, followed by a fountain of blood before pointing straight at Cathy. Immediately, all the zombies that used to be her crew including the person in the overcoat headed for the stairwell, Stacy followed suite._

"_They're coming for me," Cathy said to herself as she grabbed her key and locked the front door. Pressing her ear against the wood, she could hear several other screams, the zombies must have been breaking into other apartments on their way to her own. Cathy's eyes darted around the apartment as she tried to find a way out, she could already hear them clawing at her front door. Suddenly, Cathy remembered the fire escape; she headed into the kitchen and opened the window above the sink. She started moving faster as she heard the door break down, she was able to climb through and close the window just as the zombies disfigured and deranged faces pressed up against the glass. Cathy's heart pounded in her chest as she climbed down the fire escape and landed on the hard concrete. As she made her way down the alley, the sound of screaming became louder and louder. She turned the corner and gasped. The whole town square was in chaos as more and more zombies began to emerge, cars were crashing, the bright fire from the buildings illuminated the streets and many people were getting tackled to the ground and feasted upon. Suddenly, the sounds of gunfire filled the streets as a group of men and women holding firearms arrived on the scene. Cathy smiled as the group took down more and more zombies. But it didn't last; soon enough, the group started taking casualties and were soon overcome by the ravenous hoard. Cathy's smile disappeared as the group started getting smaller. Cathy started moving backwards as the zombies started moving her way, suddenly she tripped back over something and landed on the cold, hard ground. She picked up the object to find out it was a pump shotgun. She smiled, she'd always wanted to use a firearm, but her mom said it was too dangerous. As she slid her finger over the trigger, she accidentally pulled it back and the sound of the gunshot echoed off of the walls. After getting up off the ground, she looked round the corner and gasped, all the zombies were heading towards her. She instantly reloaded the firearm and fired at a zombie. It's head swung backwards and it dropped to the ground. Cathy tried to fire again, but it was out of ammo. She dropped the weapon to the ground and headed back down the alleyway, she instantly noticed the garbage can that sat next to the fire escape. She pulled the lid off and hopped inside. It smelt like death, but it was the only hiding place available. She opened the top slightly to see that they were heading straight towards her. She closed the top and crossed her fingers. The sounds of running could be heard from outside as the zombies passed her. As they began to quiet down, she opened the top a crack. After quickly scanning the surrounding area, she climbed out and started heading towards the town square again, the state of it made her eyes flood with tears. Without the zombies filling the streets, the sea of bodies could be easily noticed. She started making her way through the corpses, the mere smell of them made her want to vomit, not to mention the sight of blood. She'd seen dead bodies in the zombie movies, but she didn't think it would be this bad. When she finally got to the other side of the sea, she turned the corner and gasped. Crashed into a lamppost was the burning remains of an SUV, the one thing that shocked her the most was the number plate, it was her dad's. She sprinted over to the charred vehicle and looked inside the drivers seat. Tears began to pour down her cheeks as she recognised the burnt corpse inside, the sight of his crusty skin was too much for her stomach to handle. She leaned over and vomited. After wiping the remaining chunks away from her mouth, she searched the area to find a place to stay for the night. After 2 hours of searching, she came across an abandoned mini-van. She made sure the coast was clear and made her way over to the back doors. She let out a sigh of relief when she found it was unlocked; she climbed inside and closed the doors behind her. She lay down on the floor and closed her eyes. _

**-The Next Day-**

"_WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS MY FRIEND!..."Cathy's eyes immediately snapped open as the sound of singing hit her ears. She yawned and stretched her arms._

"_I have to admit, that has to be the nicest nap in a van I've ever had," she thought to herself. Suddenly, she heard the singing again._

"…_AND WE'LL KEEP ON FIGHTING TO THE END!" Cathy scratched her head with confusion._

"_Why do I hear people singing 'Queen'?" she thought to herself again, she opened the door slightly to see if the coast was clear. She got out and tried to find where the singing was coming from, she cupped her hands over her mouth and called out._

"_Hello?" she called out, hoping for a reply. Sadly, things only got worse. She turned around to see hundreds of zombies heading her way._

"_Oh crap," she said out loud before running towards the town square, as they began to close in on her, she called out again._

"_Hello? Somebody help me!" she called out again. As she made her way through the wreckage, she saw a group of boys with weapons. One of them had long brown hair and wore a red and white V-neck, another wore a green V-neck and had a huge Afro and the last wore a tattered tuxedo and had a red necktie wrapped around his head like a bandanna._

**-Now-**

Cathy finished her story and waited for Joel's response, he could tell she'd been through a lot.

"That's terrible," he said with an emotional expression. She nodded in response.

" Yeah, it was a nightmare. What about you?" she asked. Joel took another swig of Mountain Dew and looked back at her,

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"C'mon, most people I know don't wear tuxedos on a normal day" she explained.

"Oh right" he said. He started to explain how his dad had died and how the zombie attacked the wedding. When he finished, Cathy covered her mouth with shock.

"Oh my god, that's terrible," she said. Joel just nodded and looked down at the ground, Cathy could see tears falling from his eyes. She moved close and hugged him, this took Joel by surprise. But he still hugged back; after they pulled away they looked into each other's eyes. Their faces moved closer and sure enough, they kissed. Their tongues explored the insides of each other's mouths. For Cathy, this was her first kiss. And it was epic, as their kiss reached the one-minute mark; Cathy could tell she'd found a boyfriend.

"Should I come back later?" Dean asked from behind them. Their lips instantly parted and they turned to face him. Dean had the biggest smirk on his face. As for Joel and Cathy, they'd gone bright red. Joel finally came back to reality and stood up to face Dean.

"What did you want anyway?" he Joel asked. Dean's expression went from humour to seriousness.

"You need to see this," he explained before heading back towards the counter. Joel helped Cathy off the ground and they followed suite. Dean and Jenna had gathered round a small CB Radio. Joel approached Jenna.

"Where'd you find that?" he asked.

"I found it under the desk, it started making noises and then…just listen" she explained. She reached for the microphone and started talking.

"Are you still there?" she said into the microphone. There was a long silence, until a voice was heard.

"Yep. You comfy in there kids?" the voice asked. Joel and Cathy's mouths hung open whilst Dean and Jenna exchanged serious glances.

**A/N: Dun, dun, duuuuunnnn. That ends another chapter, don't worry, you'll be hearing more from 'The Hunters' soon enough. Now onto more serious matters…IT'S MY BIRTHDAY TOMMOROW! IF YOU'RE READING THIS ON MONDAY, IT'S ALREADY MY BIRTHDAY! Please send my some 'Happy Birthday PM's". PLEEEEAAASSSEEE. I'm 15 years old baby! Well, that's it from me. I'll update soon. Later readers.**


	10. The Secret and The Escape

**A/N: 'Sup guys? Now I…wait…that has to be my worst greeting yet. Hang on…ah, here's a better one. HOWDY Y'ALL! Yep, that's way better. That fact aside, I've turned 15 and I'm feeling epic. Nothin' like tearing open wrapping paper to find 'The Walking Dead Season 1'. Right now I'm trying to find more ideas for my next story, I have one but I if I told you, it would ruin the surprise. You'll figure out what it is at the end of this story. Until then, read on.**

**-With 'The Hunters'-**

As the sun set over the horizon, it cast an amazing orange light over the city as the S.W.A.T. Vans thundered down the abandoned, body littered road. In each van, the kids of various ages talked amongst themselves, some talked about life before the event, others talked about how awesome it was. Jacob was one of those people who wished it never happened, the secret of 'The Hunters' had been eating away at him ever since he was recruited, it had cost him dearly and all he wanted to do was tell the kids the truth. But even if he did, they would never escape. Ross would do the most unspeakable things to them. And what did Jacob do? Nothing, he just sat back and let the show go on. He just blocked it all out of his head and concentrated on driving. As he noticed the guards standing in the distance, he smiled, they'd finally made it. Each van pulled over to the side of the road, the subway entrance had two guards standing on each side and they each wore the same S.W.A.T. uniforms as Ross, Jacob and Ron. Each driver got out and opened the back doors of each van. After each was opened, each group formed together again and stood in silence, waiting for Ross to speak. He stood in front of the crowd of kids and started talking.

"Okay, we've arrived. Here are some rules if you plan on staying with 'The Hunters', first rule: Lights out at 22:00" he announced. This caused a lot of annoyed moans to rise from the crowd.

"Hey, I don't make the rul…oh wait, I guess I do. Anyway, second rule: every kid over the age of 13 gets a firearm" This rule however caused some of the kids to cheer, the younger ones continued moaning.

"And the third rule: You've just survived the zombie apocalypse and you've just found your salvation. We have food, water, electricity and good times all around. Have fun" This final rule caused all the kids to charge towards the subway entrance, however the guards stopped them. It turned out that each kid had to get his or her name on a register to make sure everybody was inside. After what felt like hours of standing in line, Erica and Rebecca finally made it to the front. They were greeted by one of the guards, his visor kept them from seeing his face. In his left hand he held a clipboard, in the right he held a pen. His head turned to Erica first.

"Okay Red, I'll need your first and last name," he asked. His helmet made his voice come out all muffled.

"Oh, umm…Erica, Erica White" she answered. The soldier flipped one of the pages and wrote her name in one of the blank spaces on the list, when he finished he turned to Rebecca.

"What about you Bridesmaid?" he asked, she just gave him a confused look.

"How did you know I was a bridesmaid?" she asked.

"It was my best guess. So what's your name?" he asked again.

"I'm Rebecca Walker," she answered and he wrote her name underneath Erica's.

"Okay, you can go through" he explained. They both nodded and headed down the steps; they could already hear the soldier asking for another kid's name. When they made it into the main station, they gasped. All across the platform, there were hundreds of kids. They were playing tag, they were playing card games, in the corner was a game console where a couple of boys were having a duel on 'Guitar Hero', some where reading books, it was like normal life had been squeezed inside the subway. One the other side of the platform was a long table; it was laid with plates, cutlery, drinking glasses and was surrounded by chairs. In on the tracks was an abandoned subway train; she could see a few kids coming in and out of it. Suddenly, Erica felt somebody tap her on the shoulder; she turned and came face to face with Jacob.

"The train's where we sleep, we've set up camp beds, sleeping bags, don't worry if you don't have one, we can find one for you," he explained.

"But what about the big table?" she asked.

"Oh, you see, when we arrived we turned the employee lounge into a kitchen. We gathered all the supplies we needed from the mall before it became overrun; we also grabbed some barbeque grills and medical supplies. Some of the smarter kids were able to hook some solar panels up to a generator; we're also relying on a propane truck we found a few blocks away. That way we have all the power we need. Don't worry Erica, everything's okay no-" he was cut off when Erica flung her arms around him. He could feel her tears drenching his shoulder, when she let go he noticed she was smiling.

"I'm so happy right now. Dean would've loved this," she said whilst gazing out over the crowd of kids. Jacob gave her a confused look.

"Who's Dean?" he asked. She turned back to him.

"Oh, he was my friend, he saved me when zombies attacked my house. When we went to the museum, him and a few other boys went to scavenge for food at a 7-11 across town, they haven't come back yet" she explained. Jacob's eyes went wide, now he knew why Erica was upset when she saw those boys laying in the road.

"Were those guys in the road with them?" he asked. Erica's eyes immediately flooded with tears again when she remembered Luke and Alex's corpses. She nodded, before letting the tears roll down her cheeks. She sniffled and wiped them away before talking again.

"Well, at least I know I'm safe here" she said before heading into the crowd of kids. Jacob's spine went cold the second she finished that sentence.

"_Boy, are you wrong_" he thought to himself. Jacob sighed; Erica didn't know just how safe she was. He let his own tears stream down his cheeks as he realised what was really going to happen to her. He wiped them away and put a look of seriousness on his face, he turned around and started heading back up the steps. When he got to surface, he saw Ross talking to the guard with the clipboard; Jacob headed over to Ross and tapped him on the soldier. Ross turned to him.

"Oh hey Jacob, what's up man?" he said with a smile, it started to disappear when he saw how serious Jacob looked.

"I need to talk to you. Alone" he said whilst gesturing to the guard. The guard understood what he meant and made his way down the steps. Ross turned back to Jacob.

"So what is it?" Ross asked again. Jacob looked down at the floor whilst he spoke.

"Ross, how many day's has it been since the infection?" he asked. Ross looked confused.

"Uhh…I don't know. Like…3 days?" he answered. Jacob brought his eyes back up to Ross.

"And how many kids have we…you know?" he asked. Ross's eyes went wide, then suddenly narrowed as he realised what Jacob was talking about. He walked right up to Jacob until they were face to face.

"No Jacob. We are not telling anybody, okay?" he ordered.

"C'mon Ross, people are going to notice something soon" Jacob exclaimed.

"Look, as far as everyone else is concerned, those kids went outside without permission and they got eaten by zombies. How will anybody find out?" Ross asked. Him and Jacob exchanged serious glances.

"I'm just saying. I think we should tell the-" he was cut off when Jacob grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, spun him around and pinned him against the wall. He looked up to see Ross almost glaring into his soul.

"Now you listen and you listen good Jacob. Nobody has found out, nobody WILL find out and I'm sure as hell that YOU won't tell anybody. We've had this operation going from the first day those things attacked and I'm not having it exposed by some wannabe soldier who can't keep his mouth shut" he ordered before punching Jacob in the nose, sure enough a small trail of blood poured down his face.

"I've lost my little sister Jacob, I promised myself that I'd find as many survivors as I could and get them to safety. Do you really think I'll let you get in the way?" he said. Jacob looked down and saw a Beretta handgun in his hand; Ross raised the gun to the side of Jacob's head.

"This is your last chance. If you mention this one more time, consider yourself Zombie-food. Do you understand Jacob Reed?" he ordered. Jacob nodded slowly. Ross lowered the gun and let Jacob go. Jacob wiped the blood away from his nose and started panting heavily.

"You didn't have to use my last name you know," he said. Ross just glared at him.

"Don't push your luck" he said in a grim tone and started heading back to the subway. After catching his breath, Jacob followed suite. Yet all the while he wished they could just know the truth.

"_Somebody's going to find out. I just know it_," he thought.

**-Meanwhile-**

As Dean loaded his tactical shotgun, he grabbed the microphone and started speaking again.

"Are you sure this plan will work?" he asked. After a second, the voice sounded over the speaker again.

"_It's the best we've got kid. Are you ready?_" the voice asked.

"We've all loaded our weapons, I think we have enough ammo," he said.

"_You've also got a candy wrapper stuck to you shoe_" the voice responded. Dean looked down at his foot. He actually did have a candy wrapper stuck to the sole of his shoe. He reached down and picked it off.

"How are you watching us?" he asked into the microphone.

"_When you look out the front entrance, you see an three-way street. We're in the apartment building to the left, 3rd window along, 7th window up_" Dean looked up the building and squinted. He could see a pair of binoculars staring back at him.

"_Peek-a-boo_" the voice said. Dean just smirked and rolled his eyes.

"So, are you ready?" he asked.

"_Yep, when the coast is clear, head across to the main entrance, there'll be a soldier waiting for you_" the voice explained. Dean's eyes went wide.

"Did you say soldier?" he asked.

"_I'll explain everything when you get up here. Now get ready to run, there could be hundreds of them things just waiting for you to come outside_" he ordered.

"Got it. Wish us luck" Dean replied before putting the microphone back on its stand. He turned back to the others; they stood with their guns at their sides.

"We're heading to the apartment building across the street, make sure the safety's been turned off on your weapons and use your ammo wisely. Everybody ready?" he asked. They all nodded in response and turned to the door. Jenna walked up to it and turned the key in the lock, she pushed and the doors swung open. Dean checked both ways in case of an ambush; luckily he couldn't see any zombies. One by one they started heading across the street, the sky was starting to turn a dark shade of red as the sun began to disappear. The smell of dead bodies made the walk even less pleasant. Joel stayed at the back, he could see more clearly with the scope of his sniper. As he looked down the street, his sight went black for a split second. Almost like someone, or something, had gone past it. He took his eye away from the scope and looked down the street, there was nothing there. He let out a sigh of relief and brought his eye back to the scope, only to have a zombies face pop up out of nowhere like a screamer. He let out a gasp as he saw the zombies heading towards them.

"DEAN, WE'VE GOT COMPANY!" he called back. Dean turned, his mouth dropped open.

"HURRY, C'MON!" he ordered before running towards the apartment, the others followed suite. As soon as they reached the front door, they started banging against the wood, hoping that somebody would hear them.

"LET US IN! WE'RE GOING TO DIE!" Dean pleaded as the zombies started to get closer; the fact that they were sprinting didn't help. A question suddenly popped into Dean's mind: When did the zombies start running so fast? It didn't make sense to him, they'd started to run faster, he'd seen zombified Luke use a gun, it was almost as if the zombies were getting smarter. The doors suddenly swung open and three soldiers with firearms came out. The each wore camo-overalls and wore military boots; there were two men and one woman. The woman had natural blonde hair put back in a ponytail and wore a red beret. One of the men had closely shaved blonde hair and the other was African-American with closely shaved black hair. They each wore the same red beret. The men held CAR-15 Assault Rifles whilst the women held a TR P90 Machine Gun. The female soldier turned to Dean with a serious look.

"Get inside, NOW!" she ordered. Dean nodded and headed inside with the others, he watched through the door as the soldiers unleashed hell. Each zombie shook as it was rittled with bullets and then dropped to the ground. When the zombies disappeared, the door opened and the soldiers headed inside, their overalls had occasional splashes of blood. They locked the door and turned to the kids. The female solider stepped forward to speak.

"What were you kids doing in that store anyway?" she asked with an official tone. Dean stepped forward as leader.

"We were looking for supplies. We have another group of people back at the museum" he explained.

"Well your lucky to be alive. I'm Captain Sophia Arke, this is Private Dylan Evans…" she said whilst pointing to the blonde soldier "…and this is Private Connor Carter" she said whilst pointing to the African-American solider. She led the kids upstairs to an apartment on the 7th floor; inside they'd set up a base camp. There were three camp beds, the CB Radio had been set on a coffee table by the window, there was a desk covered with what looked like maps and there was an amazing aroma coming from the kitchen. Joel sniffed their air and smiled.

"What is that?" he asked. Private Carter smiled and stood in front of Joel.

"I was making some Pizza for when we rescued you. You kids like Pizza right?" he asked. Even though he was a soldier, his voice had a friendly tone to it.

"Hell yeah" Cathy and Joel said simultaneously. Carter let out a chuckle before speaking.

"Come on, you guys can give me a hand" he said before making his way towards the kitchen, Joel and Cathy left their weapons on a tattered armchair and followed him. Dean and Jenna smiled at their friends' childishness. Dean turned to Captain Arke.

"Thank you so much" he said, she smiled with content.

"Don't mention it," she explained. Private Evans spoke up.

"If you need anything, just tell us" he finished.

"Okay, let's start from the top. How did you guys get here?" Dean asked.

**A/N: WHOOP! I'm just like wrapping paper; I'm on a roll. Sorry for the long update, I've been seeing friends and getting more ideas for my next story. If it makes you feel any better, it'll be worth waiting for. Sadly, there's one thing I still haven't mentioned in the story: The City it's taking place in. I'll mention it next chapter, I've made up a fake city name, and I just need a good state to put it in. If any of you have any ideas, leave it in a review or a PM. As for now, cheerio. Gotta put another shrimp on the barbie. BTW, nobody says that in England. Thought I'd mention it.**


	11. The Cure

**A/N: I'm back my peeps. BTW I've joined Fanfiction's sister site: FictionPress. I haven't put anything on there yet, but give me some time, a six-pack of Pepsi and a bag of Chilli Heatwave Doritos and I'll be done in a flash (Don't mock my writing methods, ever heard of progress?). Anyways, start reading and Carry On My Wayward Sons and Daughters.**

**-21:42PM-**

"_I'll explain later" _

Those had been the exact words of Captain Arke. Three words that made Dean's blood boil. It had been like 3 days since he woke up to an undead city and he'd been looking for an explanation since the start. How could a soldier keep information like that a secret? Those questions seemed to fade away as Joel's voice pierced his eardrum.

"Dean? Are you okay? You haven't spoken for a while," He asked.

"Yeah, don't worry. I'm fine," he answered before turning back to the TV. Since him and the others had arrived, they'd had pizza, a warm shower and they'd got to watch 'Zombieland'. The soldiers had generators hooked up to the power supply; there was enough fuel in them to last a year. Him, Joel and Private Carter were sitting on a leather sofa whilst Cathy, Jenna and Private Evans sat on the floor. They erupted in laughter as Tallahassee took out the zombie, which was chasing Columbus, with a baseball bat. There was only one voice that didn't laugh. Dean looked back over at the window. Captain Arke sat on the window ledge, staring at the night sky, daydreaming probably. She'd been sitting there for a while, not once had she spoken to them. Dean got up off the sofa and headed over to her. He stood beside her and cleared his throat, yet she didn't turn around.

"Umm…can I sit here?" he asked.

"Sure" she replied in a dreary tone, still looking out of the window. Dean pulled up a foldout chair and stared out of the window. Without the streetlights, it was hard to see what was going on below in the streets. A couple of zombies passed by every few minute, but it was mostly abandoned. Dean's gaze slowly rose to the night sky; there were more stars than he'd ever seen. He was amazed that no matter how bad things looked, some things remained the same. He glanced over at Arke; she wasn't even making eye contact. He finally plucked up the courage and broke the silence between them.

"How did this happen?" he asked. Finally she looked over at him.

"What do you mean?" she replied with a raised eyebrow.

"How did the infection start?" he asked again. Arke's eyebrow was still raised.

"What makes you think I-" she started before Dean interrupted her.

"Come on, there wouldn't be any soldiers in an infected city unless they knew what they were dealing with. Now tell me," he ordered. Arke's eyebrows narrowed.

"What gives you the right t-" she tried to reply before Dean interrupted once more.

"If you expect me to trust you, I need to know the story so far. Tell me now" he ordered in a more deep voice. Arke's eyebrow dropped and she brushed a stray piece of blond hair from her face. There was a long silence between them, the only sound being the noise from the TV Screen. It wasn't until Dean heard the others laugh that Arke responded.

"Ever heard of 'The Cure for the common cold'?" she asked. Dean looked up at her with wide eyes.

"You mean…it exists?" he asked in wonder.

"Well, it was brought into existence a few months ago. At least…that's what they planned," she explained.

"What happened?" Dean asked again. Arke brushed another strand of blond hair from her face and started talking.

" A few months ago, some scientists in New Mexico decided that if the cure can't be created naturally, then it had to be made chemically. After some generous funding from the government, they started making the cure. The amazing thing was that they made it on their first try" she started. Dean's eyes were wide again.

"Seriously?" he asked.

"Seriously. They first tested it on rats and after a few days, the symptoms had cleared up, they'd cured the cold. Then…there was the next step," she explained sadly. She lowered her head slightly.

"What was it?" Dean asked. She raised her head slowly before talking.

"Human Testing. The only problem was they didn't want to test it on anybody important" she explained.

"So…who did they test it on?" he asked curiously. She let out a sigh and continued.

"They found some homeless kid off of the street, he was about…I don't know. 14…maybe 15, they said they were going to give him food, shelter, clean clothes, everything. But it was all a lie" she said. Her voice was cracking slightly and Dean could see a few tears drop to the floor. Dean could see this was too much for her.

"Look, Captain, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to" Dean offered. Arke wiped away her tears and looked back up at him.

"No, you deserve to know. Anyway, they took him to the testing lab and injected him with the cold. When they were sure he was infected, they locked him in a containment chamber for observation. Then they gave him the cure. He started to get better after a few days" she explained. Dean nodded with intrigue.

"So it worked?" he suggested. Arke shook her head.

"He died in his sleep. The scientists had no idea how it happened. A day earlier he'd said he was feeling fine" she continued before Dean asked another question.

"What happened after that?" he asked.

"We lost contact with the research lab, after a few days of complete silence the government sent a few soldiers to check on it. And…well…" she said before getting up and heading over to the desk covered with maps. She brushed some of the maps aside and produced a battered laptop. She went back over to the window, opened the laptop and turned it on. After a few seconds, she turned the screen towards Dean.

"…This happened" she finished before pressing a button on the keyboard. Dean watched the screen as a video popped up. It was blurry and the sound quality wasn't that good. The video shook and a face appeared on the screen. It was a man; he had brown eyes and wore a green, military commando uniform. On the video, the man began to speak.

"_My name's Sergeant Adam Hill. The time is 20:30PM; I'm here with Corporal Nathan Brooke and Private Declan Sanchez. It's been 5 days, 6 hours and 23 minutes since we lost contact with the Common Cold Research Lab in New Mexico. So far, we have received no video messages from the head of the lab, Doctor Lawrence Harper. We've been given orders to access the lab and record our findings on video. We-" _he said before a voice cut him off and he looked up from the camera.

"_Hey Adam, let me have a go with that," _the voice asked. Adam looked annoyed.

"_Declan, I'm making a video report. You can't just-" _he replied before the video shook again. When the shaking stopped, the video showed Adam glaring angrily at the camera. Dean could hear laughing coming from behind the camera.

"_Smile Adam. You're on MTV" _Declan mocked whilst Adam kept on glaring. When the camera zoomed out, Dean realised the video was being recorded inside a military humvee. Through the side windows of the vehicle, Dean could see nothing but desert being acquainted by the dark blue sky.

"_Declan. Give me the camera" _Adam asked calmly, yet he kept on glaring.

"_No. I want a go with it. How about an interview?" _he asked before letting out a chuckle. Adam suddenly made a swing for the camera, but Declan moved out of reach.

"_Woah, calm down hot-head. Okay, Question One: Are you ever planning to get that stick out of your ass?" _he mocked. Adam was starting to turn red.

"_Declan, I'm warning yo-" _Adam tried to respond; yet Declan cut him off again.

"_Question Two: How many years has it been since your sense of humour died?" _Declan asked again. This time, Declan had crossed the line.

"_Declan. Give…me…my…CAMERA!" _Adam yelled before lunging at the camera. For a few seconds, the video kept shaking in different directions as the two soldiers fought over the camera's custody. Declan could be heard laughing whilst Adam kept ordering for the camera's release. When the video stopped shaking, it showed another solider with green eyes and stubble around his chin. He had a big grin on his face.

"_Jeez Adam, I was only messing around" _Declan said. Dean heard a sigh and the camera turned back to Adam.

"_Sorry about that. As I was saying, we passed the New Mexico Border a few minutes ago. E.T.A. Twenty-five minutes" _Adam explained before the screen went blank. Dean looked up at Arke with a confused expression.

"That's what happened?" he asked. Arke rolled her eyes.

"Keep watching Dumb-ass" she ordered and Dean looked back at the screen. A second video popped up, once again it showed Adam's face. Except this time, it was darker and Dean could hear footsteps. They must have been heading for the base.

"_Hi, it's me again. The time is 21:05PM; we're now heading towards the bunker in which the lab is being held" _he explained before the camera angle changed. It showed the backs of two soldiers, one of them was Declan and the other one must have been Nathan Brooke. They were walking towards a pit in the sand with a metal door. Nathan turned towards the camera; he was Korean and had blue eyes.

"_Make sure you get my good side Adam" _he joked.

"_To do that I'd have to turn the camera off" _Adam replied. Nathan just rolled his eyes. On the screen, Dean watched them approach the door. Nathan walked up to it and opened a black panel next to the door. He pressed his thumb against it and the panel started to scan it. When the scan finished, the words '_IDENTITY CONFIRMED' _appeared on the panel. The door slowly opened to reveal a long, stone corridor. The screen went dark as they entered. After a few seconds, fluorescent lights turned on above them. Their footsteps echoed off of the walls as the door got closer and closer to the camera. The second door had the same sort of panel as the first one. Once again, Nathan pressed his thumb against it; the panel scanned his thumbprint and the door opened. The screen went bright as the door opened. Once the light dimmed down, the full extent of the damage could be observed.

"_Oh my god" _Dean heard Adam utter in shock. All over the lab, tables had been turned over, chemicals were spilled all over the floor and blood had been smeared all over the walls. The camera turned to face a room with a giant glass window and a wooden door. The door lay on the ground, its hinges were broken. The camera showed the room, there was a single bed in the corner with a bedside table and lamp. There was a trail of blood leading from to where the door used to be. The camera panned to show Declan with a look of fear on his face. He turned to face the camera.

"_Wait, what happened to the bodies?" _he asked. No sooner had he said that, something dropped down from the ceiling onto Declan. The next scene made Dean wretch. The camera footage showed an elder man in a lab coat tearing open Declan and pulling out his insides. Dean heard Adam's horrified gasps as three more people dropped down from the ceiling and started attacking them. Two of them were men wearing similar lab coats and the third zombie was a teenage boy. Their skins had turned green and they were covered with scratches and boils. A mixture of gunfire and screaming could be heard as the camera dropped to the floor. The rest of the film showed the zombies taking down Adam and Nathan, as their screams were silenced, the zombies let out an ear-piercing war-cry and charged out of the metal door into the night. Arke closed the video, then the laptop. Dean was horrified. He looked at Arke.

"So…that's how it all happened?" he asked. Arke nodded sadly. Dean couldn't believe it; the whole virus had started over trying to find a cure for a disease. But in the end, it had created a worse one. Suddenly, his eyes went wide as he realised something.

"Wait, this virus broke out in New Mexico right?" he asked.

"Yeah" Arke replied.

"But Crossfire's right in the middle of Illinois and Missouri. Are other places infected?" Dean asked with dread.

"Follow me," Arke instructed before getting up and heading over to the desk. Dean got up and followed. Arke flicked a switch on the wall and a small flickering light bulb illuminated the table. Arke started to search through the maps.

"When we were sent here, we were given two maps. One was of the town we were searching" Arke explained. Dean nodded.

"And the other one?" he asked. Arke finally found the map she was looking for and spread it across the table. It was a map of the United States, some states were green and others were red. Dean looked up at Arke.

"What are the red states?" Dean asked with a worried look.

"Hot Zones. Places that have been overrun and are no longer safe" she explained. Dean looked back at the map. Besides New Mexico, the states in red were Washington, Oregon, Nevada, California, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Alaska, Wyoming, Colorado, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Minnesota, Iowa, Arkansas, Louisiana and Missouri. The states in green were Wisconsin, Illinois, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington D.C, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Dean let out a sigh of relief when he saw Washington in the green. His parents were still alive. But he was still horrified at how much of country was infected, more than half of America. He could see a tiny bit of red under Texas.

"Where's that?" he asked whilst pointing at the map. Arke squinted to where he was pointing since the light wasn't that bright.

"Oh. That was Hawaii. Some of the infected stowed away on a cargo ship. Before we knew it, Hawaii was extinct" she explained grimly. Dean nodded and turned back to the maps. He raised his eyebrows as he noticed something.

"How come Missouri's a Hot Zone and Illinois isn't?" he asked. Arke looked at the map and then back at Dean.

"Because Crossfire's where we've set up a perimeter. Look" she said before taking out a second map. This one was a map of the town, Crossfire. Dean had always liked the name of his hometown; it had a slight ring to it. Yet it was hardly on any maps. Dean looked back up at Arke.

"So, you said you were here to search the town. I take it your job is searching for survivors?" he asked.

"Yep. The perimeter's set up on the highway leading to Illinois. Our job is to find as many as we can and get them to safety" she explained. Dean's eyes shot open with happiness.

"Then we've got a whole load of survivors for you" Dean exclaimed cheerfully.

"You mean those kids back at the museum?" she asked. Dean nodded gleefully.

"We need to go back and get them. Do you have any vehicles?" he asked.

"We have two military trucks and a hummer in the side alley. Will that be enough?" she asked.

"That'll be perfect. But first, we'll need to gather some supplies. Some of the kids could have got ill whilst we've been gone, so we'll need some medical supplies. We'll also need weapons and food" Dean planned out loud. Arke nodded at Dean's courage.

"That's a good plan Dean. But that's going to take a while" she admitted. Dean knew she was right, it would take them forever. Suddenly, a light bulb went off in his head.

"What if we split up? You and me go get the weapons, Jenna and Evans can go get some food from the 7-11 and Joel, Cathy and Carter can go grab the medical supplies" he explained. Arke thought about it for a couple of minutes until finally speaking.

"That could actually work. Lets do it," she said before holding her hand out to Dean. Dean reached out and shook her hand.

"_For the love of god, I hope this works_" he thought to himself.

**A/N: That's it for another chapter. Right now I'm working on ideas for my next story, which I guarantee you'll love as much as this one. I'm in the middle of writing a one-shot for 'TimeRiders', so keep a lookout for that on my profile. Until I update next, PM some epic songs if you know any or write down the song and the artist in a review. Later peoples. **


	12. The Plan's In Action

**A/N: Hey guys. Sorry about the long update time, I've been working on a one-shot for 'TimeRiders'. It's not that good but it got me some hits. Right now I'm working on my original story for FictionPress called: 'I'm No Angel' and a Supernatural Fic. Now where was I…oh right, the story. Carry On reading and don't fear the reaper.**

**-The Next Morning-**

_VROOOOMMM!_

The bare sound of the humvee's engine could make somebody's ears bleed. Dean removed his hands from his ears as the engine died down to only a rumble. All the vehicles were now up and running. Dean and Arke were taking one of the trucks, Jenna and Evans were taking the other truck and Joel, Cathy and Carter were taking the humvee. The soldiers had extra supplies of ammo in each vehicle so that when the time came, they'd be armed to the teeth. Dean whistled to grab everybody's attention.

"Okay, is everybody ready?" Dean asked. Slowly, Jenna stepped forward.

"Uhh…we've got a problem with the food foraging," she said. Dean raised one eyebrow.

"What happened?" he asked, Jenna lead him outside the alleyway and pointed to the 7-11. The sound of growling and smashing came from inside, the doors were wide open. Dean could feel his heart sink.

"We left the door unlocked didn't we?" he asked with irritation. Jenna nodded slowly. Dean let out and irritated sigh and brought both hands to his head. Arke walked over to him.

"So, what do we do about the food foraging?" she asked. Dean started to plan a new way of getting food.

"I have an idea. But it's practically a suicide mission" he explained grimly. Jenna tilted her head slightly.

"What is it?" she asked.

"The mall. But it's full of zombies, we saw hundreds of them when we went past it" he explained. Jenna nodded. Suddenly, her eyes went wide.

"The mall has an entrance in the back alley. I've passed it hundreds of times as a shortcut on my way to work. Maybe we could get in that way," she explained. Dean's mouth hung open with shock.

"Jenna, didn't you hear me? There were HUNDREDS of them, there might have been more. You can't go in there," he urged. Jenna just rolled her eyes and turned to Arke.

"You head back to the truck, we'll be there in a sec," she said. Arke nodded and headed back to the others. When Arke was out of sight, she turned to Dean.

"Listen Dean, I'm sick and tired of everybody treating me like a little kid. Even before all this happened, I was never given respect. Please don't make this apocalypse worse for me" she begged. Dean could see the sadness in her eyes as she looked at him. Dean let out a sigh and nodded.

"Okay. I trust you. But if you come back dead, I'll kill you" he threatened. Jenna looked confused.

"Oh, you know what I mean" he explained. Jenna smiled and pulled Dean into a hug. After letting him go, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek and headed back to the others. Dean's eyes went wide as he took in what had happened to him, yet only five words popped into his mind as he made his way back to the others.

"_Erica__'__s__going__to__kill__me_"

Everybody was in his or her vehicle and ready to roll. Dean climbed in the drivers seat and fastened his seatbelt, when looking out the window he saw Arke glaring at him.

"What?" he asked. Arke gave him the "Are you serious?" look.

"I'm driving. Move over" she ordered. Dean sighed and scooted into the passenger seat, Arke put on her seatbelt and turned out of the alleyway and onto the main road. Dean watched in his side view mirror as the others drove away. He sighed as he pulled his head back inside the truck. He could feel the guilt filling his heart as he thought to himself.

"_I__could__be__sending__them__to__their__deaths.__And__it__'__s__all__my__fault_"

**-Meanwhile-**

Erica sat on a wooden bench just outside the subway entrance, for some reason she enjoyed watching the sunrise. The flood of colours that shone over the horizon seemed to make her forget about the impending crisis that happened only a few days ago. She was brought out of her trance by the sound of footsteps on the stone stairs. She turned around as a familiar face appeared out of the entrance. It was the blue haired girl who gave her Alex's gun. She wore a navy tank top, black jeans, dark converses and had her hair put in a ponytail. Erica got up off the bench and made her way over just as the girl let out a yawn. Suddenly, the girl turned around with a Beretta Pistol in her hand and aimed it at Erica's head. Erica screamed and fell down to the ground. Instantly, the girl lowered the gun and helped Erica up.

"I'm so sorry. When the world ends, you have to be prepared," she explained with a southern accent. Erica dusted herself down and looked back up at the girl as she slipped the gun back into her jeans.

"It was my own fault. I shouldn't have snuck up on you like that" Erica apologised, causing the blue haired girl to smile.

"That's okay. I'm Roxy," she said.

"I'm Erica. So, how long have you been with 'The Hunters'?" Erica asked. Her and Roxy made their way back over to the bench Erica had once been sitting on and sat down.

"Since the day after the apocalypse. I was in the mall when those things attacked, I was held up in the girls' bathroom. A few minutes after the screams died down, I made my way out the back entrance to see if the was anybody left alive. I made my way through the city until I reached the subway station. They took me in and taught me how to use a gun, so that's my story wrapped up" she explained. Erica smirked at this.

"What about you?" she asked.

"Well, I woke up and found my…my…" Erica's voice began to break. "…my…little brother getting…e-eaten" she whispered as tears began to roll down her cheeks. Roxy rubbed her back comfortingly.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked" Roxy apologised. Erica wiped away her tears and looked back up at Roxy.

"That's okay. I was lucky to get out of my house alive" she replied. Roxy raised and eyebrow.

"Why? What happened?" she asked.

"A-after I locked them in my brother's room, I went downstairs. My friend Dean was there. He's looked after me ever since then" Erica explained. Roxy nodded.

"This Dean sounds like a nice guy. Were you two…you know?" she asked. This confused Erica for a second, but her eyes went wide when she understood the question.

"Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. We're just friends, that's all" Erica answered. Roxy raised a mischievous eyebrow.

"Have you ever thought about you and him?" she asked slyly. This took Erica aback.

"Well I…guess so. A little bit" she said silently. Roxy sniggered.

"And have you ever told him?" she asked again.

"I guess not. Although, I did kiss him on the cheek before he left" Erica explained. Roxy looked surprised.

"Left? To go where?" she asked.

"Back at the museum, him and a few friends of ours went out to look for more food. I don't even know if they're alive" Erica replied gravely. Roxy nodded sympathetically.

"Those two boys that fell off the roof, were they with him when they set off?" she asked yet again. Erica nodded.

"Well don't get worried. Did you see Dean's body back there?" Roxy asked. Erica looked confused.

"No" she replied.

"Then I doubt he's dead" Roxy replied. Erica began to perk up. Her eyes were dry and she seemed happier than before. Suddenly, the sounds of footsteps against the stone of the subway stairs attracted their gaze. Jacob's head popped up and scanned the area until he saw them.

"Oh, there you guys are. Ross wanted me to tell you it's time for breakfast. You better hurry, we've got pancakes," he explained before heading back down the stairs. Roxy and Erica both got up to follow, but Erica grabbed Roxy by shoulder and Roxy turned to face her.

"Thanks Roxy, for the talk. I feel better," she explained with a smile. Roxy smiled back.

"Anytime Erica" she replied. And they both headed down the subway steps, the smell of breakfast foods lingering in their nostrils.

**-Later-**

The sound of the humvee's engine was the last thing the zombie heard as it got ploughed down by the mighty vehicle. It swerved around into an alleyway around the back of the mall and came to a halt. The doors swung open and Jenna climbed out, followed by Private Evans. They walked around to the back of the humvee and swung open the doors. Evans reached inside and pulled out a CAR-15 Assault Rifle along with a few ammo clips. He handed a second rifle to Jenna.

"No thanks" she said before pulling out her Beretta 93R. "I have my own" Evens smiled and pulled out 5 ammo clips, he handed them to her.

"This is all I can give you. Use them wisely," he instructed. Jenna nodded in response and reloaded the pistol. They slammed the humvee door shut and made their way to the back door. Evans blew off the lock with his rifle and they made their way inside. Jenna turned to Evans with a scared look on her face.

"You scared?" she asked. Evans just turned back the direction they were heading.

"Terrified" he replied as they continued walking.

**A/N: And that's the end of Chapter 12. I AM REALLY SORRY ABOUT THE LONG UPDATE. I've had a really busy week, I've had my Art Exam, my Science Exam, I had to go away for the weekend. Those facts aside, the list at the top of the story is what I'm working on at the moment. So I might be working in-between stories. Laters and don't stop reading. Look me up on FictionPress: Delorean7 2.0 **


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